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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



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SKETCHES. 




GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND. 

Founder of the City of Cleveland. 



1796. 



SKETCHES 



OP 



WESTERN LIFE 



£Y 



HARVEY RICE 




BOSTON: 
LEE AND SHEPARD, PUBLISHERS. 

NEW YORK : CHARLES T. DILLINGHAM, 

1887. 






Copyright, 1886 
By Harvey Rice. 



All rights reserved. 



/ 



PREFATORY NOTE. 



-.o:- 



The following sketches were written chiefly with 
reference to incidents and traits of character that 
marked the transition of the Western Reserve from 
a wilderness to the proud eminence of a civilized 
land. Similar incidents and traits have marked the 
advance of civilization from the Atlantic to the 
Pacific. As elements of history, they all have an 
interest that increases with the lapse of time — a his- 
tory that will never repeat itself. ''Woman and 
Her Sphere," and the Sketches that follow, are in- 
cluded in the volume for the reason that they pertain 
to achievements of western enterprise and have an 
import that is worthy of consideration. 

Cleveland, June ii, 1886. 



CONTENTS. 



GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND ii 

MAJOR LORENZO CARTER 29 

REV. JOSEPH BADGER 49 

HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS 77 

WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS 103 

FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM 129 

WOMAN AND HER SPHERE 149 

LAND OF FLOWERS 197 

CAREER OF DE SOTO 206 

FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE 231 



Gen. Moses Cleaveland. 



,.^'' 



GENERAL MOSES CLEAVELAND. 

In attempting to solve the problem of life, General 
Moses Cleaveland had a purpose and lived for a pur- 
pose. In his career, though controlled by circum- 
stances, he manifested an unusual degree of wisdom 
and foresight. Among other achievements he found- 
ed a city — the beautiful city that inherits his name 
and cherishes his memory with a pride that ap- 
proaches reyerence. 

His ancestry is of historical interest, and has been 
traced to a remote period. The name ** Cleaveland" 
is shown to be of Saxon origin, and was the name 
of a distinguished family in Yorkshire, England, be- 
fore the Norman conquest. This family originally 
occupied an extensive landed estate that was singu- 
larly marked by open fissures in its rocky soil, known 
to the Saxons as '* clefts" or ''cleves." This pecu- 
liarity of the estate induced the rural population of 
the vicinity to speak of its occupants as the **Cleff- 
lands," a name which the family accepted. This 



12 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

name, like many others, as time elapsed, came to be 
spelled in a variety of ways — Cleffland, Clifland, 
Cleiveland, Cleaveland, Cleveland. An antiquarian 
of repute states that William Cleveland of York, 
England, who died at Hinckley, in Leicestershire, in 
1630, was the remote ancestor of the American 
Clevelands. It is also shown that a lineal descendant 
of his, whose name was Moses, and who was a house- 
wright or builder by trade, emigrated from England 
and landed at Boston in the year 1635, where he re- 
mained for several years. He then, in connection 
with Edward Winn and others, founded the town of 
Woburn, Massachusetts, where both he and Winn 
permanently settled. 

This Moses Cleveland was a man of intelligence 
and enterprise. He aspired to full citizenship, and 
became, in 1643, what was then called a ''freeman." 
The qualifications of a freeman required that he 
should be of * ' godly walk and conversation, at least 
twenty-one years of age, take an oath of allegiance 
to the government of Massachusetts Bay colony, be 
worth ^200, and consent to hold office if elected, or 
pay a fine of forty shillings, and vote at all elections 
or pay the same fine." The restrictions and condi- 
tions were so onerous that many who were eHgible 
preferred not to become freemen, being more free as 



MOSES CLEAVELAND. 1 3 

they were. But this Moses, who had now become a 
freeman, feeling that he had ancestral blood in his 
veins of a superior quality, thought that it ought to 
be transmitted, and after a brief courtship married, 
in 1648, Anne Winn, the daughter of his friend, Ed- 
ward Winn of Woburn. In taking this step " Moses ** 
did not make a "mistake." The result was that he 
became the accredited progenitor of all the Cleve- 
lands born in the United States — a race not only 
numerous, but noted for great moral worth and many 
noble traits of character. 

General Moses Cleaveland, the subject of this 
sketch, was born January 29, 1754, in the town of 
Canterbury, Windham county, and State of Connec- 
ticut. He was the second son of Colonel Aaron 
Cleaveland, who married Thankful Paine. Both his 
father and mother were persons of culture. They 
saw promising traits of character in their son Moses 
when he was but a child, and resolved to give him a 
hberal education. At the proper age they sent him 
to Yale college, where he graduated in 1777. He 
then adopted the legal profession, and commenced 
the practice of law in his native town with marked 
success. The abilities of the young lawyer soon 
attracted public attention, and induced congress to 
recognize his merits by appointing him, in 1779, 



14 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

captain of a company of sappers and miners in the 
army of the United States, The following is the 
commission he received: 

The United States of America in Congress assembled. To Moses Cleve- 
land, Esquire, Greeting: 

We, reposing especial trust and confidence in your patriotism, valor, 
conduct and fidelity, do by these presents constitute and appoint you to 
be a captain in the companies of sappers and miners in the Army of the 
United States, to take rank as such from the second day of August, 1779. 
You are, therefore, carefully and diligently to discharge the duty of a 
captain, by doing and performing all manner of things thereunto belong- 
ing. And we do strictly charge and require all officers and soldiers under 
your command to be obedient to your commands as captain. And you 
are to observe and follow such orders and directions from time to time as 
you shall receive from this or a future Congress of the United States, or 
for the time being of the Army of the United States, or any other superior 
officer, according to the rules and discipline of war, in pursuance of the 
trust reposed in you. This commission to continue in force until revoked 
by this or a future Congress, the committee of Congress before mentioned, 
or a committee of the States. 

Entered in the war office, and examined by the board. Attest. 
Witness : His Excellency Samuel Huntington, Esq. , President of the Con- 
gress of the United States of America, at Philadelphia, the fourteenth 
day of February, 1780, and in the fourth year of our independence. 

Sam. Huntington, President. 
Ben. Stoddert, Secretary of the Board of War. 

Captain Cleveland is hereby, at his own request, discharged from the 
services of the United States. 

By His Excellency's command. 

Teuch Tilghman, Aid-de-Camp. 
New W^indsor, June 7, 1781. 

He accepted the commission, but in the course of 



MOSES CLEAVELAND. I 5 

a few months, as appears, resigned the office. No 
reason is given. He doubtless preferred the practice 
of law, to which he returned. He was not an office- 
seeker in a political sense, yet he was a member of 
the Masonic fraternity and held the position of 
grand marshal of the Grand Lodge of Connecticut. 
He was several times elected a member of the state 
legislature, and in this capacity acquired an enviable 
reputation as a statesman. In 1794 he married Esther 
Champion, a young lady of rare accomplishments, 
and the daughter of Henry Champion. Early in 
1796, after having risen rapidly through the subordi- 
nate military grades, he was advanced to the general- 
ship of the Fifth brigade of the state militia. 

In regard to the subsequent career of General 
Cleaveland, it should be remembered that Connecti- 
cut, when a colony, acquired by grant of King 
Charles II. of England, in 1662, a vast tract of ter- 
ritory lying between the same parallels with the col- 
ony, and extending west from "sea to sea," or from 
the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean. When Connecti- 
cut was admitted into the Union as a state, she 
claimed this territory as her rightful domain. In 
adjusting the claim, congress allowed her to retain 
only that part of the territory now known as the 



1 6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

** Western Reserve." This she accepted in full dis- 
charge of her claim. 

The Western Reserve embraces the northeastern 
part of Ohio, and contains three millions and eight 
hundred thousand acres. In 1792 the state donated 
five hundred thousand acres of this land, since known 
as the ''Firelands," to citizens who had suffered by 
fire in the Revolution; and, in 1795, authorize.d a 
sale of the remaining part of the Reserve and ap- 
pointed a committee to effect the sale. This remain- 
der was sold within a few months for $1,200,000, 
which the state appropriated as a permanent fund 
for the support of her common schools. The pur- 
chasers of the land were sundry wealthy citizens 
known as the ** Connecticut Land company." The 
individuals comprising the company held different 
shares, and with a view to convenience in the trans- 
action of business, conveyed their respective interests 
to three trustees, John Cadwell, John Morgan and 
Jonathan Brace. In accordance with articles of 
agreement entered into by the land company, the 
general management of its affairs was confided to a 
board of seven directors, Oliver Phelps, Henry Cham- 
pion, Moses Cleaveland, Samuel W. Johnson, Eph- 
raim Kirby, Samuel Mather, Jr., and Roger New- 
bury. On the twelfth day of May, 1796, the follow- 



MOSES CLEAVELAND. 1/ 

m.?^ commission was issued by the board of directors 
to Moses Cleaveland, who was a shareholder in the 
land company : 

To Moses Cleaveland, Esq., of the County of Windham and State of 
Connecticut, one of the directors of the Connecticut Land company, 
Greeting . 

We, the board of directors of said company, having appointed you to 
go on to said land as superintendent over the agents and men sent to sur- 
vey and make locations on said land, and to make and enter into friendly 
negotiations with the natives who are on said land, or contiguous thereto, 
and may have any pretended claim to the same, and secure such friendly 
intercourse amongst them as will establish peace, quiet and safety to the 
survey and settlement of said lands not ceded by the natives under the 
authority of the United States. 

You are hereby, for the foregoing purposes, fully authorized and em- 
powered to act and transact all the above business in as full and ample a 
manner as we ourselves could do ; to make contracts on the foregoing 
matters in our behalf and stead, and make such drafts on our treasury as 
may be necessary to accomplish the foregoing object of your appointment. 
And all agents and men by us employed and sent to survey and settle said 
lands, to be obedient to your orders and directions ; and you are to be 
accountable for all moneys by you received, conforming your conduct to 
such orders and directions as we may from time to time give you, and to 
do and act in all matters according to your best skill and judgment, which 
may tend to the best interest, prosperity and success of said Connecticut 
Land company, having more particularly for your guide the articles of 
association entered into and signed by the individuals of said company. 
Oliver Phelps, \ 

Henry Champion, ( directors 

Roger Newbury, \ ^^^^ctors. 

Samuel Mather, Jr., ) 

Thus commissioned, General Cleaveland led the 
first surveying and exploring party into the wilds of 



1 8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

the Western Reserve, or ''New Connecticut," as it 
was then called. The entire party consisted of Gen- 
eral Cleaveland, agent of the land company ; Augus- 
tus Porter, principal surveyor ; Seth Pease, astrono- 
mer and surveyor ; Moses Warren, Amos Spafford, 
John M. Holley and Richard M. Stoddard, assistant 
surveyors ; Joshua Stow, commissary ; Theodore 
Shepard, physician ; Joseph Tinker, boatman, and 
Seth Hart, chaplain, accompanied by thirty-seven 
employes and a few emigrants. There were but two 
women in the party. They were married women 
who came with their husbands. The whole party 
numbered just fifty. They brought with them thir- 
teen horses and several head of horned cattle. 

The individuals composing the expedition concen- 
trated at Schenectady, N. Y., early in June, 1796. 
A few took charge of the horses and cattle and pro- 
ceeded by land through the interior wilds of the state 
to Buffalo, while the others procured boats and as- 
cended the Mohawk river, and when they reached 
Fort Stanwix, now Rome, transferred their boats from 
the Mohawk over the portage to Wood creek, passed 
down the creek to Oneida lake, thence across the 
lake and its outlets, and down the Oswego river to 
Lake Ontario. From this point they coasted along 
the south shore of Ontario to the mouth of the Ni- 



MOSES CLEAVELAND. 1 9 

agara river, thence up that river to Queenstown, 
and after crossing the " seven mile " portage reached 
Chippewa, and from thence pursued their way along 
the Niagara river and shore of Lake Erie to Buffalo, 
where they were met by the detachment having 
charge of the horses and cattle. Here General 
Cleaveland found a delegation of Seneca and Mohawk 
Indians, headed by Red Jacket and Colonel Brant, 
who had been awaiting his arrival, with a determina- 
tion to oppose the further progress of the expedition 
to the Western Reserve, claiming that it was terri- 
tory which rightfully belonged to them. The In- 
dians consented to hold a " talk " with the general, 
who succeeded in quieting the claim by making them 
a donation of goods, valued at twelve hundred dol- 
lars. The expedition then continued westward along 
the southeastern shore of Lake Erie in two divisions, 
one division in boats, and the other by land, and ar- 
rived on the fourth of July, 1796, at the mouth of 
Conneaut creek, in the Western Reserve, and on 
arrival gave *' three deafening cheers " and christened 
the place *' Port Independence." 

It was a pleasant day. The party felt patriotic, 
and resolved to celebrate not only the day but the 
event. They flung the American flag to the breeze. 
Tables were extemporized and made to groan under 



20 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

the weight of a superabundance of baked pork and 
beans and other luxuries, all of which were partaken 
of with a keen relish. Salutes were fired by platoons 
of musketry, speeches were made, and several pailfuls 
of grog were imbibed in response to the following 
toasts or sentiments: i. *'The President of the 
United States." 2. *'The State of New Connecti- 
cut." 3. ** The Connecticut Land Company." 4. 
*'May the Port of Independence and the fifty sons 
and daughters who have entered it this day be suc- 
cessful and prosperous." 5. '' May these sons and 
daughters multiply in sixteen years sixteen times 
fifty." 6. ''May every person have his bowsprit 
trimmed and ready to enter every port that opens." 
The celebration was prolonged until the stars ap- 
peared. It was the first celebration of the kind that 
had occurred in the Western Reserve. At its close, 
the hilarious ''fifty" retired to their boats and tents 
in as good order as could be expected. The next 
day was devoted to the erection of a log structure or 
two, designed for the immediate accommodation of 
the party and their supplies. The Indians in the 
vicinity now became inquisitive, and demanded to 
know why it was the white men had encroached upon 
their domains. A council was called and the central 
seat assigned to General Cleaveland, as the great 



MOSES CLEAVELAND. 21 

white chief. Proceedings were commenced by gravely 
smoking the **pipe of peace." Cato, the son of the 
old Indian chief, Piqua, then addressed the great 
white chief, who, in his reply, conciliated the In- 
dians by giving them a few glass beads and a keg of 
whiskey. The surveys were then allowed to pro- 
ceed. The general assigned to each detachment of 
surveyors their special work, and told them where to 
commence it. 

In the course of two weeks after this General 
Cleaveland left Conneaut in company with a select 
fev/ of his staff, and coasted in an open boat along 
the southwestern shore of Lake Erie until he came 
to the mouth of a river, which he took to be the 
Cuyahoga. He ascended the stream for some dis- 
tance, amid many embarrassments arising from sand- 
bars and fallen trees, when he discovered his mistake, 
and found that it was a shallow river of minor im- 
portance and not noted on his map. This perplexity 
and delay so chagrined him and his staff that he 
named the river ''Chagrin," a designation by which 
it is still known, and continuing the voyage he 
entered the mouth of the veritable Cuyahoga on the 
twenty-second of July, in the same ever memorable 
year of 1796, and landed on its eastern bank near its 
entrance into the lake. He at once with his staff as- 



22 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

cended the steep bank, and beheld for the first time 
an elevated plain of surprising beauty that extended 
far away to the east, west and south of him, and that 
was clad with a luxuriant growth of graceful forest 
trees. The scene charm.ed his eye, and the spot 
where he stood, skirted as it was by the Cuyahoga 
river on the west and by Lake Erie on the north, 
suggested to him that, with these natural advantages, 
the locality was destined, at no distant day, to be- 
come the site of a great commercial city. 

In accordance with this impression, he directed the 
locality to be surveyed into city lots. It included an 
area of a mile square. Two surveys were made of 
the land, under the superintendence of Augustus 
Porter — one by Seth Pease and the other by Amos 
Spafford. Each presented a separate map of his 
work. The one is known as '* Pease's map," and the 
other as *'Spafford's map." These original maps 
differ somewhat in detail, yet both are accepted as 
authoritative. The surveys were completed early in 
October, 1796. The surveyors gave to the new-born 
city the name of " Cleaveland," in honor of their 
chief. The general, with characteristic modesty, ac- 
cepted the compliment. 

The city, at its birth, contained three log cabins 
that had been erected by the surveyors for their own 



MOSES CLEAVELAND. 23 

accommodation on the hillside next to the river, and 
near a spring that furnished an ample supply of pure 
water. The resident population that settled in 
Cleveland in 1796 vi^as but four; in 1797 the popu- 
lation increased to fifteen; in 1800 it was reduced to 
seven by removals elsewhere, on account of the in- 
salubrity of the locality. In 1820, the population 
increased to 150; and in 1830, at the taking of the 
first United States census, it was found that the popu- 
lation had advanced to 1,075. I^ 1^27 the Ohio 
canal, with its terminus at Cleveland, was put in 
successful operation. This improvement so enlarged 
the facilities of commerce as to inspire confidence 
and give assurance of the city's future prosperity. 
It was in 1830 that a newspaper called the Cleveland 
Advertiser was established. In preparing to issue 
the first number the editor discovered that the 
** heading" was too long to fit the ''form," and so, 
in order to adjust it he dropped out the letter "a," 
in the first syllable of the word Cleaveland, and 
made it read ** Cleveland." The public at once ac- 
cepted this change in orthography. 

It is indeed somewhat marvelous that the city of 
Cleveland from a sickly infancy, and within less than 
a century, has now grown to such gigantic propor- 
tions as to possess a population of nearly two hundred 



24 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

and fifty thousand. Its present rate of growth in pop- 
ulation renders it impossible for any one, however 
much of a prophet he may be, to predict what will 
be the aggregate of its population a hundred years 
hence. It is said that when General Cleaveland 
founded the city, he predicted that the time would 
come when it would contain a population as large 
as that of old Windham in Connecticut, which at 
that time was about fifteen hundred. If the general 
could now see "what has come to pass," it would be 
interesting, if not amusing, to witness his expression 
of surprise. 

Whatever else may be said of General Cleaveland, 
it is evident that he not only led an honorable life 
but achieved a great work. He was a man of few 
words and of prompt action. His morality was an 
outgrowth of Puritanism and as rigid as it was pure. 
He was manly and dignified in his bearing, and so 
sedate in his looks that strangers often took him for 
a clergyman. In complexion he was somewhat 
swarthy, so much so that the Indians claimed him as 
akin to their own race. In personal appearance he 
was of medium height, erect, thick set and portly, 
had black hair, a quick, penetrating eye, muscular 
limbs, and a military air in his step, indicating that 
he was born to command. In the social circle he 



MOSES CLEAVELAND. 2^ 

was pleasant and agreeable In his style of manners, 
and was always received as a welcome guest. He 
was a friend to everybody, and everybody seemed 
to be his friend. In his opinions he was decisive and 
could readily give a logical reason for them. He 
was also a man of true courage amid threatening 
dangers, and as shrewd in his tactics and manage- 
ment as he was courageous. In the midst of his 
usefulness and crowned with honors, he died at 
Canterbury, Conn., November i6, 1806, at the age 
of fifty-three years. He was the father of four chil- 
dren, Mary Esther, Francis Moses, Frances Augusta 
and Julius Moses Cleaveland, three of whom sur- 
vived him. His was not only a career of unusual in- 
terest, but a mission that transformed a wilderness 
into a civilized land. In a word, his life-work com- 
mands our admiration and deserves commemoration. 
The city that bears his name, and whose founder he 
was, could hardly do a more appropriate or graceful 
thing than to erect a statue to his memory as an ex- 
pression of her appreciation of his character and 
public services, and thus by honoring him honor 
herself. 



Major Lorenzo Carter. 



MAJOR LORENZO CARTER. 

History is indebted to biography for the greater 
part of its interest and value. It is not so much 
what a man thinks or beHeves as what he does, that 
gives him character. It was physical strength and 
a fearless spirit that distinguished the brave and the 
bold in the heroic age of the Greeks. It was these 
traits of character that gave Lorenzo Carter his re- 
nown as a valiant pioneer in the early settlement of 
the Western Reserve. 

Lorenzo Carter, familiarly known as Major Carter, 
was born at Rutland, Vermont, in 1767. He received 
but a limited education, but was endowed by nature 
with sound sense and a ready mother wit. At the 
age of twenty-two he married Miss Rebecca Fuller, 
a worthy young lady of his native town. The mar- 
riage took place on the twenty-eighth of January, 
1789. Within a few years after the marriage the 
happy pair conceived the idea of making themselves 



30 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

Still happier by removing to the "far west" — the 
mystic land of golden promise. In accordance with 
this resolution, young Carter and family, accompanied 
by Ezekiel Hawley, bade adieu to Rutland, in the fall 
of the year 1 796, with a view to a permanent settlement 
at some eligible point in the unbroken wilderness of 
the Western Reserve. When they reached Lake 
Erie they crossed over with their families and spent 
the winter in Canada. Hawley was the brother-in- 
law of Carter, and both were desirous of selecting 
permanent homes near each other. 

In the spring of 1797, both Carter and Hawley, 
with their families, recrossed the lake, and arrived 
in Cleveland on the second day of May. They were 
highly pleased with the appearance of the country, 
and especially with the beautiful valley of the Cuya- 
hoga river. Hawley and family settled on the ele- 
vated land bordering this river, and about a mile 
from the lake. Carter preferred the eastern hillside, 
near the mouth of the river, where he erected a log 
cabin, which was located a little north of the present 
viaduct or bridge at the terminus of Superior street. 
Here he and his family commenced their career in 
the wilds of the Western Reserve, amid wild beasts 
and still wilder men. The Indians at this time were 
numerous in the region of the Cuyahoga. Its valley 



LORENZO CARTER. 3 1 

was, in fact, the "Indians' paradise." The river that 
winds so gracefully along the vale abounded with 
fish, ducks and geese, while the adjoining forests af- 
forded countless numbers of deer, bears, wild turkeys 
and other game, all of which were regarded by the 
Indians as their natural inheritance, and hence they 
viewed the encroachment of white men with sus- 
picion. 

The Cuyahoga originally ran through what is now 
called the old river bed, and discharged its waters 
into the lake at a point west of the new breakwater. 
At that early day there stood a huge Indian mound 
near the mouth of the river where it now runs, which, 
it is said, must have had originally a diameter at 
the base of one hundred feet, and an elevation 
of fifty feet. When the river left its old bed, it 
ploughed a new channel in a direct line to the lake, 
and ran so near the east side of the mound that it 
soon undermined it and swept it away. The exist- 
ence of the mound was well known to the early set- 
tlers. Several large trees, of a hundred years' growth 
or more, were standing on the top of the mound in 
1796, but the natives of the forest who were found 
here at that date knew nothing of the origin of the 
mound, or of the race who built it. In all proba- 
bility it was built by the ancient Eries, who occupied 



32 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

the southern shore of the lake east of the Cuyahoga, 
in an age that has no written record. The time has 
been, doubtless, when the lake shore at Cleveland 
extended several miles into the lake north of its pres- 
ent boundary. It is well known that the lake has 
encroached on the land, at Cleveland, nearly half a 
mile within the last eighty years. The mound was 
doubtless the sepulchre of some acknowledged chief 
who, in the lost ages, was the sovereign of the beau- 
tiful valley of the Cuyahoga. 

In the fall of 1796, the original site of the city of 
Cleveland was surveyed into town lots by Moses 
Cleaveland and staff. The surveyors erected at that 
time two or three log cabins for their own accommo- 
dation. These cabins constituted the nucleus of what 
has now become a great and beautiful city. The 
cabin built by Carter in the following year was much 
more pretentious in its size and style of architecture 
than the humble cabins erected by the surveyors. 
It had two apartments on the ground floor, and a 
spacious garret for lodgers. Near the cabin flowed a 
spring of pure water, cool and clear as a crystal. 

Thus provided with a rustic but happy home for 
himself and family. Carter felt that he must engage 
in some employment that would afford him a liveli- 
hood. The first thing he did was to build a boat 



LORENZO CARTER. 33 

and establish a ferry across the river at the foot of 
Superior street for the accommodation of pubUc 
travel. In connection with this, he kept in his 
house a small stock of goods adapted to the Indian 
trade, including whiskey. When a boy he became 
an expert hunter, and knew that he could rely on his 
rifle in an emergency, and hence he devoted more or 
less of his time to hunting for the purpose of obtain- 
ing valuable furs and peltries, and securing a supply 
of wild meat for his family. He soon distinguished 
himself as a successful hunter in all the region 
round about him. The Indians found in him an 
overmatch as a marksman, and a superior in physical 
strength. He had the muscular power of a giant, 
and not only knew his strength but knew when and 
how to use it. He stood six feet in his boots, and 
was evidently born to command. His complexion 
was somewhat swarthy and his hair long and black. 
He wore it cut square on the forehead and allowed 
it to flow behind nearly to the shoulders. He had a 
Roman nose, and the courage of a Roman. Yet 
he was as amiable in spirit and temper as he was 
brave. He dressed to suit himself and as occasion 
required. In times of danger he always found in his 
rifle a reliable friend. He not only enjoyed life in 
the wilderness, but soon became master of the situ- 



34 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

ation. He loved adventures and encountered dangers 
without fear. 

On one occasion, as tradition says, he returned 
from a hunting excursion and found that the Indians 
had broken into his warehouse, knocked in the head 
of a barrel of whiskey and imbibed so freely as to 
become drunk and dangerously belligerent. He 
marched in among them, drove them out, kicked and 
cuffed them about in every direction, and rolled sev- 
eral of them, who were too drunk to keep their legs, 
into the marshy brink of the river. The Indians 
did not relish this kind of treatment, and, meditating 
revenge, held a council the next day and decided to 
exterminate Carter. They selected two of their best 
marksmen and directed them to follow his footprints 
the next time he entered the woodlands to hunt, and 
shoot him at the first favorable opportunity. This 
the delegated assassins attempted to do, and, think- 
ing to make sure work of it, both fired at him at 
the same time, but failed to hit him. In an instant 
Carter turned on his heel and shot one of them, who 
fell dead in his tracks ; the other uttered a terrific 
war whoop and fled out of sight. This dire result 
overawed the Indians. From that time no further 
attempts were made to take Carter's life. His rifle 
was the law of the land. The Indians became sub- 



LORENZO CARTER. 35 

servient to his will, and were confirmed in the belief 
that he was the favorite of the Great Spirit and 
could not be killed. It was in this way that Carter 
obtained an unbounded influence over the Indians. 
He always treated them, when they behaved as they 
should, with kindness and generosity, and when they 
quarreled among themselves, as they often did, he 
intervened and settled their difficulties. 

Not long after Carter had located at the mouth of 
the Cuyahoga, David Bryant estabhshed a distillery 
near his cabin at the foot of the hill. This distillery 
soon became the favorite resort of both white men 
and Indians. In a drunken frolic which occurred on 
the hillside one sunny afternoon among the Indians, 
the chief. Big Son, charged Menompsy, the medicine 
man, with having killed his squaw by administering 
witchcraft medicine, and threatened to kill him. Me- 
nompsy, knowing that he, as medicine-man, priest 
and prophet, was regarded as invulnerable, replied, 
**me no 'fraid," and when he, at nightfall, was pass- 
ing down Union lane on his return to the west side 
of the river, where his tribe was encamped, he was 
met by Big Son, who, with professions of friendship, 
saluted him, and then drew a knife and killed him on 
the spot. The friends of Menompsy, on hearing of 
the murder, came over from the west side with the 



36 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

intention of killing Big Son, who secreted himself 
and could not be found. The " war whoop " was 
sounded, and a demand made for the surrender of 
the murderer. The Indians occupying the east and 
west sides of the river were hereditary enemies, and 
the danger became imminent that, unless Big Son 
was surrendered, a bloody fight would ensue between 
them. At this juncture Carter appeared and nego- 
tiated a compromise by which the friends of Big Son 
agreed to give the friends of Menompsy a gallon of 
whiskey. But, as it happened, no whiskey could be 
obtained, and the ** war whoop " was renewed. 
Carter then effected a second negotiation by agreeing 
upon two gallons of whiskey to be forthcoming on 
the next day. Bryant put his distillery into opera- 
tion at once, and the two gallons of whiskey were 
furnished as agreed. The friends of Menompsy then 
returned to their camp on the west side of the river 
and indulged in a drunken jollification that entirely 
allayed their thirst for revenge. 

At the August term of the territorial court, held 
at Warren, in 1801, Carter was granted a license to 
keep a tavern at Cleveland on paying into the county 
treasury the sum of four dollars. The entire Re- 
serve was then included within the limits of Trum- 
bull county, and the county seat established at War- 



LORENZO CARTER. 37 

ren. The state constitution was adopted in 1802. 
At the first state court, held at Warren, after the 
adoption of the constitution, Lorenzo Carter of 
Cleveland, as it appears of record, was indicted for 
assault and battery. He was greatly astonished 
when the officer arrested him and said he must take 
him to Warren for trial. The friends of Carter were 
still more astonished than he was, and resolved that 
he should not be taken to Warren, and proposed to 
resist the sheriff, asserting that Carter was and always 
had been an upright and peaceable citizen. The 
sheriff was obliged to summon aid, and finally suc- 
ceeded in producing him bodily in court. It was 
known at Warren that Carter enjoyed the reputation 
of being a brave, bold and daring frontiersman, and 
it was supposed by the citizens of Warren that he 
must therefore be a dangerous fellow. But when ar- 
raigned before the court his quiet and manly appear" 
ance created a favorable impression. The charge 
made against him proved to be a.s frivolous as it was 
revengeful in spirit. It grew out of a dispute be- 
tween him and one of his Cleveland neighbors who 
owned a favorite dog. Carter had discovered that 
the dog was in the habit of stealing into his milk- 
house, at the spring, and lapping up the cream from 
the pans. He finally caught the dog in the act, and 



38 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

chastised the brute. The owner declared his dog in- 
nocent. Carter declared the dog guilty. The owner 
then pronounced Carter a liar. Carter instantly re- 
turned the compliment by slapping his accuser in the 
face. Carter frankly plead ''guilty "to the indict- 
ment. The court readily comprehended the char- 
acter of the quarrel, and ordered him to pay a fine 
of six cents and costs. This he did forthwith. He 
was received on his return home by his many friends 
with such open demonstration of joy and triumph as 
to convince his accuser that the sooner he removed 
from Cleveland the better it would be for his per- 
sonal safety. 

The name of Lorenzo Carter had now become well 
known throughout the Reserve. He was highly re- 
spected as a worthy citizen, and was, in fact, the 
famous pioneer of the Cuyahoga valley. He not 
only had the confidence of white men, but acquired 
an unbounded influence over the Indians. When 
Carter first came to Cleveland, in 1797, there were 
but seven persons residing in the town. Its popula- 
tion increased but slowly during the next ten or 
twelve years. It was Carter's enterprise that built 
the first frame house in Cleveland. He also built the 
first warehouse. During the early part of his career 
at Cleveland, his spacious log cabin on the hillside 



LORENZO CARTER. 39 

was regarded as headquarters. It served as a hotel 
for strangers, and as a variety shop of hunting sup- 
pHes. It was also a place of popular resort, where 
the denizens of the town and surrounding country 
held their social festivities. 

The first social dance or ball that occurred at Cleve- 
land took place at Carter's renowned log cabin, July 
4, 1 80 1. The party consisted of fifteen or sixteen 
couples. They came from town and country, some 
on foot and some on horseback, and were dressed in 
all sorts of style. They occupied the front room, or 
parlor of the cabin. It had a puncheon floor, and 
its walls were decorated with deer-horns, powder- 
horns, rifles and shotguns. The dance began at an 
early hour. Mr. Jones was the violinist, who, after 
attuning his instrument, struck up *'Hie, Bettie Mar- 
tin," the favorite air of that day. The mazy dance 
was executed with marvelous agility, and with a still 
more marvelous variety of steps. The refreshments 
were substantial in their character, consisting mainly 
of baked pork and beans, plum cake and whiskey, 
and were partaken of with a keen relish and in liberal 
quantities. The dance was continued until daylight 
the next morning, when the party dispersed, and 
returned in merry mood to their rustic homes. It 
was doubtless the fruitful result of this public ball 



40 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

which brought with it, on the next Fourth of July, 
the first wedding that occurred in Cleveland. The 
nuptials were celebrated at Carter's cabin, in the 
same decorated parlor in which the first dance had 
transpired. The happy twain whose ''hearts beat 
as one," and who wished to become one, were Wil- 
liam Clement of Canada, and Cloe Inches, the hired 
girl in Carter's family, whom he had brought with 
him from Canada to Cleveland. 

The preparations were by no means elaborate or 
expensive. The bride was dressed in colored cotton, 
and the bridegroom in domestic sheep's gray. No 
cards were issued, nor were any costly gifts pre- 
sented. When the guests had assembled, and the 
hour arrived, the affianced couple simply arose and 
"took the pledge" in the exacting language of the 
Puritanic formula of New England. Rev. Seth Hart 
officiated. He was from Connecticut, and was in the 
employ of the land company, and the only clergy- 
man who could be found to officiate on that occasion. 
Whether he was the first one who, in accordance 
with modern practice, saluted the bride with a "holy 
kiss" at the close of the ceremony, does not appear 
in the traditionary lore of the times. 

At a special election held in August, 1804, a-t the 
house of James Kingsbury, Carter was elected to the 



LORENZO CARTER. 4I 

office of major in the state militia, and from that date 
was always spoken of as ''Major Carter." This 
advancement to one of the enviable honors of his 
time not only increased his popularity, but enlarged 
his business prospects. In 1808 he built the first 
vessel constructed at Cleveland, named the Zephyr 
thirty tons burden and designed for the lake trade. 

The county of Cuyahoga was organized in 1809, 
and Cleveland made the county-seat. The popula- 
tion of the town at that time was but forty-seven. 
Nearly three years elapsed before the county erected 
a court house and jail. In the meantime a small 
room in a private dwelling, located on the north side 
of Superior street, was used as a court room and the 
garret of Major Carter's log cabin as a jail. The 
Indian, John O'Mick, who murdered two white men 
in the year 18 12, was incarcerated in this garret, 
where he remained chained to a rafter for several 
months previous to his trial. The major assumed 
the responsibilities of jailer and deputy-sheriff. The 
Indian was tried for his crime at the April term of 
the court, found ''guilty," and sentenced to be 
hung on the twenty-sixth of June following. 

When the day arrived on which the execution was 
to take place, a one-horse lumber wagon, containing 
a coffin made of rough boards, appeared at the door 



42 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

of the major's cabin, ready to receive the convict and 
transport him to the gallows on the Public Square, 
where he was to be executed. O'Mick had frequently, 
after his conviction, said to the major that he would 
show the white men how bravely an Indian could 
die, and that the executioner need not tie his hands, 
but simply adjust the rope, and he would leap from 
the scaffold and hang himself He decorated himself 
with paint and war plumes, and when led from the 
garret, sprang nimbly into the wagon and sat down 
on his coffin with an air of stolid indifference. He 
was then taken under a military escort that marched 
to the music of fife and muffled drum to the PubHc 
Square, where a large crowd of citizens had gathered 
to witness the execution. Soon as the convict arrived 
he was taken by Sheriff Baldwin, who, with the aid 
of Carter, forced him to ascend the ladder to the 
scaffold, where the rope was adjusted about his neck 
and an appropriate prayer offered by Rev. Mr. Dar- 
row. At the close of the prayer and at the moment 
the sheriff proceeded to let fall the fatal trap, O'Mick 
sprang and seized a side post of the gallows with an 
iron grasp the sheriff could not disengage. Carter, 
who spoke the Indian language with ease, reminded 
O'Mick of his professed bravery and tried to per- 
suade him to let go the post, and finally succeeded 



LORENZO CARTER. 43 

in compromising the matter with him by giving him 
a pint of whiskey. O'Mick drank the whiskey, and 
said he was ready to swing. The sheriff attempted 
to proceed when O'Mick played the same trick a 
second time, and again compromised for another 
pint of whiskey, which was given him, and while he 
was swallowing it the trap was let go and down went 
the ''poor Indian" with a jerk that broke his neck 
and the rope, and left him on the ground writhing in 
the apparent agonies of death. At this fearful mo- 
ment a terrific thunder storm, attended with violent 
wind and rain, burst overhead and compelled the 
crowd to disperse in haste. In the meantime the 
remains of O'Mick, whether dead or alive, were hast- 
ily buried beneath the gallows by direction of the 
sheriff. On examination the next morning the body 
could not be found. Some thought that O'Mick had 
resurrected himself and fled. Others thought the 
medical profession had secured the prize. At any 
rate his skeleton was, some thirty years afterwards, 
known to be in the possession of the late Dr. Town 
of Hudson. What has since become of it is not 
known. 

Major Lorenzo Carter was the right man in the 
right place for the times in which he lived. No man, 
perhaps, could have accomplished more, or executed 



44 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

his life's work better than he did, under the sanae 
circumstances. He accumulated a handsome prop- 
erty, and in the latter part of his life purchased a 
large farm, which he improved, and which lay on the 
west side of the Cuyahoga river, nearly opposite the 
termination of Superior street. This farm, after his 
death, became the property of his son, Alonzo Car- 
ter, who occupied it for many years, when it was 
sold to the Buffalo Land company and cut up into 
city lots. It has now become an important business 
part of the city of Cleveland. The major died Feb- 
ruary 7, 1 8 14, at forty-seven years of age. He was 
the father of nine children, three sons, Alonzo, 
Henry and Lorenzo, and six daughters, Laura, Re- 
becca, Polly, Rebecca (2d), Mercy and Betsey. Lo- 
renzo and both Rebeccas died in infancy. Henry 
was drowned when but ten years old in the Cuyahoga 
river. The other children attained maturity and led 
exemplary lives. His wife died October 19, 1827. 
The descendants of the major are numerous, and are 
not only worthy but highly respected citizens. His 
grandsons, Henry, Lorenzo, Charles and Edward 
Carter, reside in the Eighteenth ward, and others of 
his descendants reside in the vicinity, or at no great 
distance, and are connected by marriage with promi_ 
nent families — the Rathburns and Northrops of 01m- 



LORENZO CARTER. 45 

stead Falls, the Akins of Brooklyn, the Abies of 
Rockport, the Cathans of Chagrin Falls, the Rath- 
burns of Newburgh, the Peets of Ridgeville, Mrs. 
Crow of Newburgh, and others. Major Carter and 
his wife Rebecca were consigned to their final resting 
place in the Erie Street cemetery, near its western 
entrance. Two marble headstones mark the spot, 
and also bear upon their face a brief record that is 
worthy of a reverent remembrance. 



Rev. Joseph Badger. 



REV. JOSEPH BADGER. 

There have been but few men in the clerical pro- 
fession who have made a worthier or more exemp- 
lary life record for themselves than Rev. Joseph 
Badger. He fought for liberty in the Revolution, 
and for Christianity in the wilds of the Western Re- 
serve. In the one case he fought with the musket, 
in the other with the sword of the spirit. Whether 
serving as a soldier or as a missionary, he proved 
himself sincere and steadfast in his devotion to duty. 

Rev. Joseph Badger was born at Wilbraham, 
Mass., February 28, 1757. He was a lineal descend- 
ant of Giles Badger, who emigrated from England 
and settled at Newburyport, not far from Boston, 
about the year 1635. The father of Joseph was 
Henry Badger, who married Mary Landon. They 
were both devoutly pious, and equally poor in this 
world's goods. They instructed their son, Joseph, at 
an early age, in the catechism of the Puritan faith, and 



50 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

gave him such further elementary education as they 
were able at the domestic fireside. He grew strong 
in the faith as he grev/ to manhood, when he began 
to realize that, in sharing life with his parents, good 
and kind as they were, he shared their poverty. In 
consulting his mirror he was often painfully reminded 
of the fact that his garments, patched as they were, 
displayed about as many colors as the coat of his 
ancient namesake. Inspired with the patriotic senti- 
ment of the times, and desiring not only to provide 
for himself but to obtain sufficient money to give 
himself a liberal education, he enlisted in 1775, when 
but eighteen years of age, in the Revolutionary 
army, as a common soldier, and was assigned to the 
regiment commanded by Colonel Patterson. The 
regiment was stationed at Fort No. 3, near Litch- 
more's Point, in the vicinity of Boston. At the bat- 
tle of Bunker's hill this regiment was posted on Cob- 
ble hill, in a line with the front of the American bat- 
tery, and about half a mile distant, where every man 
of the regiment could see the fire from the whole line, 
and enjoy the fun of seeing the British break their 
ranks, run down the hill, and then reluctantly return 
to the charge. On their third return, as luck would 
have it, they carried the works at the point of the 
bayonet. This was the first time after his enlistment 



JOSEPH BADGER. 5 I 

that young Joseph had an opportunity to smell the 
smoke of British gunpowder. It was some time in 
September of the same year he enlisted, that the 
British landed three or four hundred men on Litch- 
more's Point to take off a herd of fat cattle. Colonel 
Patterson ordered his regiment to attack the maraud- 
ers and prevent them from capturing the cattle. A 
sharp conflict ensued, in which Joseph tested the vir- 
tues of his musket and poured into the enemy nine 
or ten shots in rapid succession and with apparent 
effect. Several were killed and others wounded on 
both sides. Joseph escaped unharmed. But soon 
after this skirmish he took a violent cold, attended 
with a severe cough. His captain advised him to re- 
turn home until he could recover. This he did, and 
within twenty days came back and rejoined his regi- 
ment quite restored to health. 

The British evacuated Boston on the seventeenth 
of March, 1776. On the next day Colonel Patterson's 
regiment, with several other regiments, was ordered 
to New York, where they remained for three weeks, 
and were then ordered to Canada. They were trans- 
ported up the Hudson to Albany, and thence by way 
of lakes George and Champlain to St. Johns and thence 
to La Prairie on the banks of the St. Lawrence and in 
sight of Montreal. On the way the troops suffered 



52 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

severely from exposure to rain storms and snow- 
storms, and from want of provisions. They arrived 
at La Prairie late in the day, and in a state bordering 
on starvation, and there they encamped supperless. 
The next day each soldier received a ration of a few 
ounces of mouldy bread for breakfast, and a thin 
slice of stale meat for supper. Joseph accepted his 
share of the dainty feast without a murmur, but 
doubtless thought the wayfaring soldier had a pretty 
*' hard road to travel." A part of Colonel Patterson's 
regiment was then ordered up the river to a small 
fort at Cedar rapids, which was besieged by a British 
captain with one company of regulars and about five 
hundred Indians, led by Brant, the famous Indian 
chief. The Indians were thirsting for blood. A 
fierce conflict ensued, which lasted for an hour or 
more, when the enemy was compelled to retreat 
towards the fort. At this juncture a parley was 
called and the firing ceased. A number were killed 
and more wounded. It so happened that the fifth 
company, to which Joseph belonged, did not arrive 
in time to participate in the fight, though they had 
approached so near the scene as to hear the firing 
and see the rolling cloud of battle-smoke. Joseph 
expressed his regret that he had lost so good an op- 
portunity to give his flint-lock a second trial. The 



JOSEPH BADGER. 53 

detachment was now ordered to retreat to La Chine, 
a French village about six miles above Montreal. 
Here they were reinforced by the arrival of eight 
hundred men, under command of General Arnold. 
The entire force advanced to the outlet of Bason lake, 
at St. Anns, where they embarked on board the 
boats and steered for a certain point about three miles 
distant. In passing, the force was fired upon by the 
enemy, armed with guns and two small cannon. A 
shower of shot seemed to come from every direction, 
and, as the boats containing the Americans were 
about to land at the point sought, they received, 
amid hideous yells from the Indians in ambush, a 
hailstorm of bullets that rattled as they struck the 
boats, and slightly injured some of the men. The 
men in the boats returned the fire as best they could. 
It was marvelous that none of the Americans were 
killed or seriously injured. "It appeared to me," 
said Joseph, "a wonderful, providential escape." 
A British captain by the name of Foster, was shot 
in the thigh. It was now nearly sunset when Gen- 
eral Arnold ordered a retreat. The night was spent 
in making preparations for the morrow. It was near 
morning when Captain Foster came over to General 
Arnold and agreed with him to a cartel by which cer^ 
tain prisoners were exchanged. The American pris- 



54 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

oners were returned in a destitute and forlorn condi- 
tion. Tlie pitiful sight deeply excited the generous 
sympathies of the kind hearted Joseph, who did 
what he could to comfort them by dividing his own 
supplies with them. 

General Arnold now returned with his troops to 
Montreal, exercising great vigilance to avoid further 
surprise. He then crossed the St. Lav/rence and 
encamped at St. Johns. Here the small-pox appeared 
in camp. In order to avoid the severity of the dis- 
ease, Joseph procured the necessary virus and inoc- 
ulated himself with the point of a needle, which 
produced the desired effect. Two days after the 
disease had appeared in camp, the troops were 
ordered to Chambly. The British hove in sight and 
began to land on the opposite side of the bay. The 
invalids were numerous and continued to increase. 
They were directed to march back to St. Johns, a 
distance of twelve miles. Most of them could hardly 
carry gun, catridge-box and blanket, and were often 
obliged to sit down and rest by the wayside^ Joseph 
among the rest. In the course of a few days the 
sick were transported to Isle aux Noix, at which 
place all the shattered army were collected under 
command of General Heath. From this place the 
troops, including the sick, proceeded amid sundry 



JOSEPH BADGER. 55 

embarrassments to Crown Point, where they en- 
camped. Here the small-pox spread among the 
men, and in its most aggravated form, with fearful 
rapidity. The scene in camp soon became appalling. 
The groans and cries of the sick and dying were 
heard night and day without cessation. As it hap-* 
pened, the surgeons, for want of medicines and 
hospital stores, could render but little aid, In some 
instances as many as thirty patients died in a day, 
and were buried in a single vault or pit, for the rea- 
son that there were not well men enough to bury 
them in separate graves. The humane and philan- 
thropic Joseph, who had previously inoculated him- 
self with success, and thus avoided further danger 
from the contagion, now devoted himself to nursing 
and caring for his sick companions- in-arms with 
unwearied assiduity. As soon as the contagion 
began to abate, the sick were transferred in boats to 
Fort George, while the men fit for service were 
ordered to Mount Independence, opposite Ticon- 
deroga, to erect works of defense. The mount was 
covered with forest trees, loose rocks, and dens 
infested with rattlesnakes, which often crept into 
camp and were killed. At this time Joseph suffered 
for want of the clothes he had lost in the retreat 
from Canada, and had, in fact, worn the only shirt 



S6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

he had for six weeks, and was so incommoded with 
vermin that he was compelled to take off his shirt, 
wash it without soap, wring it out, and put it on wet. 
He was also scourged with an irritating cutaneous 
disease, which induced him to retire some distance 
from camp, fire a log-heap and roast himself, after 
anointing with a mixture of grease and brimstone. 
The camp was destitute of indispensable conven- 
iences, and the hospital in which lay the sick had 
not a dish of any kind in which could be adminis- 
tered a sup of gruel, broth, or a drink of water. 
Resort was had to wooden troughs, or dishes, cut 
out with a hatchet or penknife. The colonel, in 
passing through the hospital, said : " I wish there 
was a man to be found here who can turn wooden 
dishes." Joseph, who understood the art, replied: 
'* Furnish me the tools and I will do it." The tools 
were furnished, and Joseph soon turned from the 
aspen poplar an ample supply of wooden cups and 
trenchers. He was also often employed in making 
bread, and, in fact, was a sort of universal genius 
and could do almost anything. At the instance of 
General Washington he was also employed at times 
to aid in negotiating treaties of friendship with the 
Indians. But, after being transferred several times 
from one military point to another, and suffering 



JOSEPH BADGER. 5/ 

more or less from hardships, his health became so 
impaired that the principal surgeon gave him a dis- 
charge, and he returned to his home in Massachu- 
setts. He soon afterward so far recovered that he 
reenlisted and served as an orderly sergeant in 
defence of the seaport towns till the first of January, 

1778, when his time expired, and he returned to his 
father's house once more, having been in the service 
a little more than three years. He received, on 
retiring from the army, about two hundred dollars 
in paper currency, which was so depreciated that he 
could not purchase, with the whole of it, a decent 
coat. He then (for the next six months) engaged in 
the business of weaving on shares, and during that 
time wove sixteen hundred yards of plain cloth. 
This enabled him to clothe himself decently, and to 
spend the ensuing winter in improving his education. 
At this time, as he said, he "had no Christian hope," 
but continued to labor and study during the year 

1779, when a religious revival occurred, and he 
acquired a Christian hope with a determination to fit 
himxself for the ministry. Encouraged by his friend. 
Rev. Mr. Day, he prosecuted the requisite prelimi- 
nary studies, and at the same time taught a family 
school in order to meet his expenses. He entered 
college in 178 1 and graduated in 1785. He then 



58 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

Studied theology and was licensed to preach in 1786. 
He soon received a call and was ordained as pastor 
of the church at Blandford, Mass. He had previ- 
ously married Miss Lois Noble, who was a young 
lady of refinement and exemplary piety. In Octo- 
ber, 1800, he resigned his pastorship at Blandford 
and received a regular dismissal. 

The Connecticut Missionary society, whose central 
office was at Hartford, had formed a high estimate of 
the character and piety of Rev. Joseph Badger, and 
at once tendered him the appointment to go, under 
the auspices of the society, as a missionary to the 
Western Reserve. This was the kind of Christian 
labor in which he preferred to engage. He therefore 
accepted the appointment, and, leaving his family at 
home until he could explore somewhat his new 
field of service, he took his departure on horseback, 
November 15, 1800, bound for the Western Reserve. 
He took what was then called the southern route, 
crossed the Alleghany mountains in the midst of a 
snow storm, and, after a weary journey, arrived at 
Pittsburgh on the fourteenth of December. Here he 
rested for a day or two, and then resumed his " jour- 
ney through the wilderness," and, after a weary ride 
of nearly a hundred miles, reached Youngstown, one 
of the earliest settlements in the Reserve, on Satur- 



JOSEPH BADGER. 5^ 

day night at a late hour, and was kindly received. 
The next day he preached at Youngstovvn his first 
sermon in the Reserve. The town at that time con- 
sisted of some half-dozen log cabins. His audience 
included nearly every soul in town, though but a 
handful, who had assembled in one of the larger cab- 
ins, and wlio seemed pleased to receive from his lips 
" the glad tidings of great joy." Gratified with his 
reception at Youngstown, and resolving to lose no 
time in expediting his missionary labors, he rode the 
next day to Vienna, where but one family had set- 
tled ; thence to Hartford, where but three families 
had settled, and thence to Vernon, where he found 
but five families. In making these successive visits he 
did good work. While at Vernon he was informed 
that Mr. Palmer, the head of the family settled at 
Vienna, had been taken suddenly sick and was not 
expected to live. There was no doctor residing in 
all that region of country. Rev. Mr. Badger hastened 
at once to the relief of the sick man and nursed him 
for eight days, when he so far recovered that his 
providential nurse could safely leave him. In this 
way Rev. Mr. Badger visited, in the course of the 
year 1801, every settlement and nearly every family 
throughout the Western Reserve. In doing this he 
often rode from five to twenty-five or thirty miles a 



60 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

day, carrying with him in saddle-bags a scanty supply 
of clothing and eatables, and often traversing pathless 
woodlands amid storms and tempests, swimming un- 
bridged rivers, and suffering from cold and hunger, 
and at the same time here and there visiting lone 
families, giving them and their children religious in- 
struction and wholesome advice, and preaching at 
points wherever a few could be gathered together, 
sometimes in a log cabin or in a barn, and sometimes in 
the open field or in a woodland, beneath the shadows 
of the trees. At about this time he preached the first 
sermon ever heard in Cleveland. In response to all 
this benevolent work he had the satisfaction of know- 
ing that he was almost universally received with a 
heartfelt appreciation of his services and with a lib- 
eral hospitality. Though most of the early settlers 
were poor, they cheerfully ** broke bread with him," 
and gave him the larger share of such luxuries as 
they happened to have at command. Even the In- 
dians, who were quite numerous, treated him kindly 
and with respect. He took especial pains to enlighten 
and instruct them, and soon acquired such a knowl- 
edge of their language as enabled him to communi- 
cate readily with them. 

In September of 1801, he jouraeyed on horsebaclc 
to Detroit, with a view to extend the field of hi^ 



JOSEPH BADGER. 6 I 

missionary labors. On reaching the banks of Huron 
river, late in the evening, he stopped at an Indian 
hut, desiring to remain for the night. He was kindly 
received by the inmates — an aged Indian chief and 
his squaw. The squaw cut fodder from the cornfield 
and fed his horse, and soon presented him with a 
supper of boiled string-beans, buttered with bear's 
oil, in a wooden bowl that was cut and carved out 
from the knot of a tree with a hatchet and knife. 
Hungry as he really was, he relished the feast. She 
then spread for him, on the floor, a bed of bearskins 
and clean blankets, on which he enjoyed a refreshing 
night's sleep. In the morning she gave him for 
breakfast a corn bread cake, baked in the embers. It 
contained inside a sprinkling of black beans, and re- 
sembled plum cake. While he was eating, he ex- 
pressed his admiration of the bread. The squaw re- 
pHed : **Eat, it is good; it is such bread as God 
gives the Indians." He then resumed his journey to 
Detroit, where he remained a few days. While 
there, and while on his way to and from there, he 
held religious interviews with all he met, who were 
willing to converse in relation to their spiritual wel- 
fare, whether white men or Indians, but found no 
one, as he said, in all that region whom he could re- 
gard as a Christian, "except a black man, who ap- 



62 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

peared pious." On his return he visited Hudson, 
where he found a few professors of religion. Here 
he organized a church, consisting of ten males and 
six females. This was the first church organized in 
the Western Reserve. The next morning, October 
25, he took his departure from the Reserve, and re- 
turned by way of Buffalo to his family in New Eng- 
land, preaching as he went at such settlements as 
offered a favorable opportunity. He arrived at home 
January I, 1802, after an absence of thirteen months 
and fifteen days. He found his dear family all well, 
and, like David of old, blessed the Lord who had 
* 'redeemed his life from destruction and crowned 
him with loving kindness and tender mercies." 

Soon after his arrival, he visited Hartford and re- 
ported to the missionary society what he had done 
and the character of his work, and agreed to return 
with his family to the same field of missionary labor, 
and for such compensation as the society chose to 
allow him, which was but seven dollars per week. 
This was, at that time, considered a sufficient sum to 
meet the current expenses of himself and family. He 
exchanged his former homestead at Blandford for 
land in the Western Reserve. On the twenty-third 
of February, 1802, he started on his journey to the 
Western Reserve in a wagon drawn by four horses 



JOSEPH BADGER. 63 

and loaded with a few household goods, his wife and 
six children, and himself driving the team. He took 
the route leading through the state of New York to 
Buffalo, and thence followed the southerly shore of 
Lake Erie to Austinburgh, in the Reserve, where he 
and his family were received with a hearty welcome 
to the home and hospitalities of his friend. Colonel 
Eliphalet Austin. He accom.plished the journey, a 
distance of six hundred miles, in sixty days. This 
was traveling at a pretty rapid rate, as was then 
thought. He remarked, when he had reached the 
hospitable home of his friend Austin, that he and his 
family seemed destined to share God's promise to 
his ancient Israel: "And they shall dwell safely in 
the wilderness and sleep in the woods." 

He now purchased a small lot of land in Austin- 
burgh, and soon, with the aid of a few kind settlers, 
erected a log cabin in which to shelter his family. 
He found it difficult to procure sufficient provisions, 
but soon succeeded in obtaining a sack of coarse 
flour in the vicinity, and hearing of a barrel of pork 
for sale at Painesville, he sent a man with a team 
thirty miles through the woods to purchase it, and 
paid twenty silver dollars for it, and found on open- 
ing it that it contained the " whole hog," feet, head, 
snout and ears, and weighed but one hundred and 



64 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

seventy pounds. This, with the milk from two cows 
that were pastured in the woods and sometimes 
missed for a day or two, was all the provision he 
could make for his family when it became necessary 
for him to leave them and enter upon his missionary 
labors in other parts of the Reserve. He visited 
Mentor, Chagrin and other settlements. At Euclid 
he found a family by the name of Burke, who had 
resided in a lone situation in the woods for over 
three years in so destitute a condition that the wife 
had been obliged to spin cattle's hair and weave it 
into blankets to cover her children's bed and save 
them from suffering in cold weather. At Newburgh 
he visited five families, the only residents in the 
place, but discovered to his regret "no apparent 
piety among any of them. They all seemed to glory 
in their infidelity." He continued visiting families 
and preaching throughout the southeastern part of 
the Reserve, and establishing churches. He called 
on his return at ''Perkins' Station" in Trumbull 
county, where an election was pending and a goodly 
number of voters present. He was invited to dine 
with them. All took their seats and bec^an to helo 
themselves, when he interrupted them and remarked: 
''Gentlemen, if you will attend with Christian de- 
cency, and hear me invoke the blessing of God, I 



JOSEPH BADGER. 65 

will sit down with you, otherwise I cannot." Knives 
and forks were instantly laid down and a blessing 
invoked. The dinner was then discussed with a keen 
relish by the assemblage, who seemed to appreciate 
the fact that "blessings sometimes come in disguise." 
He then continued on his way home. Soon after 
this a revival commenced in most of the infant set- 
tlements, and his missionary labors were largely in- 
creased. 

In some of the settlements the revival was attended 
with miraculous power. In many instances the con- 
verts were stricken down in convulsions, groaned in 
apparent agonies, and tore their hair ; and in other 
instances they fell in a trance, saw visions, awoke 
and leaped for joy, shouting long and loud, "Glory 
to God." All this surprised the itinerant missionary 
and presented him with a problem which he could 
not solve; yet, being a disciple of the "Calvinistic 
school " and charitably inclined, he attributed the 
' ' spasmodic demonstrations " to the mysterious work- 
ings of the Holy Spirit. The people far and near 
partook of the excitement and flocked to hear him. 
On one occasion he preached to an audience of five 
hundred. Though some scoffed, many professed to 
have experienced religion. The general impression 
was in those days that conversion consisted in expe- 



66 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

riencing some sudden and mysterious shock — a Puri- 
tanic idea that is now held to be absurd — yet this 
wild excitement doubtless produced some good fruit, 
if not a "rich harvest." Be this as it may, Rev. 
Mr. Badger persevered in extending his labors and, 
between June i8 and July i of the year 1802, rode 
two hundred miles, preached eight sermons and 
administered two sacraments. In riding through the 
dense woodlands, especially after nightfall, he was 
often followed by hungry wolves and bears, manifest- 
ing a desire to cultivate a toothsome acquaintance 
with him. On one occasion, when riding through a 
dark and pathless forest late at night, along the banks 
of Grand river, and drenched with rain, he discov- 
ered by the sound of distinct footsteps that some 
large animal was following him. He stopped his 
horse, turned on the saddle, and with loud vocifera- 
tions and clapping of hands attempted to frighten 
the animal away, but, instead of the noise having the 
desired effect, the bear, as it proved to be, sprang 
towards him with hair standing on end and with eyes 
flashing fire. At this critical juncture, as Rev. Mr. 
Badger states in his diary: '*I had no weapon of 
defense. I thought best to leave the ground, turned 
to the left and walked my horse partly by the bear, 
when the brute stepped directly on behind me and 



JOSEPH BADGER. 6/ 

within a few paces. By this time it had become so 
dark that I could see nothing-, not even my hand 
holding the bridle, and the bear was still snapping 
his teeth and approaching nearer. I had in my hand 
a large, heavy horseshoe, took aim by his nose and 
threw the shoe, but effected no alarm of the enemy. 
To ride away was impossible in a pathless wood, 
thick with brush and fallen timber. I concluded to 
resort to a tree if I could find one. I reined my 
horse first to the right and then to the left, at which 
instant some sloping limbs brushed my hat. On 
feeling them I found them to be long, pliable beech 
limbs. I reined my horse again and came with his 
shoulder close to the tree. I tied the bridle to the 
limbs, raised myself on the saddle, and by aid of the 
small limbs began to climb. I soon got hold of a 
limb large enough to bear me, and at this instant the 
evil beast came to the tree with violent snuffing and 
snapping. I fixed my stand on the limb, took out a 
sharp knife, the only weapon I had, and prepared 
for battle. But I soon heard the bear snuffing near 
the horse's nose as he was crunching the boughs and 
leaves within his reach. I then ascended about forty 
feet, as near the top of the tree as I thought was 
safe, found a convenient place to sit on a hmb, and 
then tied myself with a large bandanna to the tree. 



6S SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

SO as not to fall if I fell into a drowse. The bear 
continued smelling at the horse until he had passed 
around him to the opposite side of the tree, and all 
was still but the champing of the horse. By the 
roaring of the wind it appeared that a heavy gust 
was approaching. It soon began to rain powerfully, 
with wind and heavy peals of thunder. At this time 
the horse shook himself, which startled the bear to a 
quick rush for a few rods, when he stopped and vio- 
lently snapped his teeth, and there remained until a 
few minutes before daylight, when he went off. My 
horse, standing as he did at the foot of the tree, 
without moving a foot from the place where I left 
him, and in no way frightened by the approach and 
management of the bear, seemed to be peculiarly 
providential. This was the only time I was disturbed 
in camping out many times. As soon as I could see 
to take my course, I mounted my horse and arrived 
at my house, about six miles from my lodging place 
in the tree, with a pretty good appetite for breakfast. 
Having in my saddle-bags two volumes of the * Ohio 
State Laws,' it was remarked by some of my friends 
that the old bear did not like so near a 'union of 
church and state.' " 

Rev. Mr. Badger continued his missionary work 
with zeal and with highly encouraging prospects. 



JOSEPH BADGER. 69 

He organized many churches and schools and dis- 
tributed many Bibles and school books, and often as- 
sisted the settlers in erecting their log cabins and in 
securing their harvests. In 1804 the missionary so- 
ciety reduced his compensation to six dollars a week, 
being the same they allowed their missionaries nearer 
home. This he did not relish, but accepted the re- 
duced pittance, remarking that he would go on with 
his work and trust to Him who *' feeds the ravens." 
At this time he was obliged to pay at the rate of six- 
teen dollars a barrel for salt pork, though the other 
provisions were comparatively cheap and plenty. 
Early in the spring of 1809 his house was burned, and 
nothing saved but two beds and a few articles of 
clothing. He at once built a small cabin, with the 
generous aid of his neighbors, and moved his family 
into it, without bedstead, table, knife, fork or spoon. 
In June of the same year he returned to Hartford, 
Connecticut, and made a final settlement with the 
Connecticut missionary society, and received an hon- 
orable discharge from further services as a missionary 
under its auspices. He then proposed to engage in 
missionary work among the Indians west of the Cuya- 
hoga, known as the Wyandots, and having, within a 
short time, received cash donations from the Massa 
chusetts Missionary society to the amount of over a 



70 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

thousand dollars, he returned to the Reserve and 
commenced his missionary labors among the Indians 
at Upper Sandusky, which he regarded as a central 
point, and from which he extended his labors in the 
region round about so as to include all the Indian vil- 
lages in the vicinity of the lake, from the west side 
of the Cuyahoga river to the city of Detroit. This 
mission was called the "Wyandot Mission." His 
labors in this missionary field consisted mainly in 
visiting the Indians in their lodges, instructing them 
and their children in the elementary principles of 
Christianity and in the observance of peaceful rela- 
tions. He also gave them practical lessons in agri- 
culture and other arts of civilized life, and tried to 
reform their intemperate habits by condemning the 
use of whiskey. He was a staunch advocate of " tem- 
perance in all things," denounced slavish habits and 
also slavery long before the latter became the subject 
of political agitation. In 1812 he took a deep and 
active interest in the war, and accepted the position 
of chaplain in the command of General Harrison. 
He also exercised a wide influence over the Indians 
in preventing them from making alliances with the 
enemy. At the close of the war he resumed his 
missionary labors. In August, 18 18, his good wife 
died and left to him the care of their children. His 



JOSEPH BADGER. 7 I 

grief seemed inconsolable, but he soon so far over- 
came it as to marry in April, 1819, Miss Abigail Ely 
for a second wife. In the following June he took his 
■n bridal trip with her to his old home in New England, 
and, after a brief but delightful visit, returned and 
devoted himself to preaching in the eastern part of 
the Reserve, where he soon settled as pastor of the 
church at Austinburg, a church which he had organ- 
ized, and which had become so large in the number 
of its communicants that it was generally known as 
the " mother church " of the Reserve. He subse- 
quently officiated as pastor of the church at Ashta- 
bula for some years, then at Kingsville, and lastly at 
Gustavus, Trumbull county, where he settled in 1825, 
and officiated not only as pastor of the parish but as 
postmaster, having been appointed to the latter office 
by the postmaster-general. In 1835 he resigned his 
position as pastor at Gustavus, and preached a fare- 
well sermon, taking the following words for his text: 
''Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good 
comfort, be of one mind, live in peace, and the God 
of love and peace will be with you." The sermon 
was a masterly one, and the audience was affected to 
tears. It was long remembered, and was never for- 
gotten by those who heard it. He had now become 
so enfeebled by age as to disqualify him for further 



72 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

service as pastor of a church. From Gustavus he 
went to reside with his married daughter in the town- 
ship of Plain, Wood county, Ohio, where for eight or 
nine years, he devoted more or less time, as he was 
able, to missionary work in the vicinity. In 1844 he 
changed his residence and went to the neighboring 
town of Perrysburg, where he lived with his married 
granddaughter, and where he died in 1846, at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-nine years. In six months 
afterward his wife died. But two of his six children 
survived him. 

In personal appearance Rev. Joseph Badger was 
tall, slim, erect, had blue eyes, brown hair, and a 
pleasing expression of face. In temperament and 
action he was quick and somewhat impulsive, yet he 
was considerate and slow of utterance, rarely, if ever, 
uttering an imprudent word. In his social intercourse 
he was sedate or facetious as the occasion seemed to 
require. He enjoyed hearing and telling amusing 
anecdotes. In his style of preaching he was apos- 
tolic, plain, simple and logical. In creed he was 
an othodox Presbyterian. He had but one grand 
aim in life, and that was to do what he could 
to advance the moral and spiritual welfare of man- 
kind. In a word. Rev. Joseph Badger, though dead, 
still lives and will ever live in memory as the early 



JOSEPH BADGER. 73 

western missionary whose philanthropic and life-long 
labors were prompted by the spirit of a true Christian 
manhood. 



Homes in the IVilderness, 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 

A little less than a century ago th'e Western Re- 
serve lay cradled in the silence of her own native 
solitude. It was General Moses Cleaveland who, in 
1796, led the van of civihzation into the wilds of her 
untrodden recesses. 

The adventurers who followed this modern Moses 
came from the barren hills and narrow vales of New 
England. They were intelligent and enterprising 
agriculturists, who desired to become dwellers in a 
more fertile land, and who brought with them their 
families, with a view to permanent settlement. They 
purchased here and there wild farms, or tracts of 
land, throughout the Reserve, erected for themselves 
log cabins, and commenced life in the wilderness, 
with a determination to achieve success. A few of 
them, however, concentrated at different points and 
laid the foundations of prospective towns. 

In the wake of these primitive adventurers came a 
scanty supply of merchants and mechanics, who 



/S SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

located in the prospective towns. Immigration con- 
tinued to Increase. A tavern, a dry goods shop and 
a blacksmith shop, with as many log dwellings, con- 
stituted a village or town, and, of course, became 
the central point of association and trade. These 
central points were soon graced with accessions of 
more aristocratic pretensions. Saturdays and Sun- 
days were the social days of the week, in which the 
sparse population of the vicinity visited the towns 
for business purposes, or for the sake of hearing the 
news and having a social interview with each other. 
Not many years elapsed before these infant towns 
were supplied with a liberal endowment of lawyers 
and doctors, Interspersed with a few clergymen. 
They came with the hope of achieving professional 
success. The learned professions may be a public 
necessity. At any rate they seem to be mevitable 
appendages to an advancing civilization. 

Most of the early pioneers were comparatively 
poor, and came into the wilderness with slender outfits. 
In one sense, however, they were rich. They had 
brave hearts and strong hands. They brought with 
them their families and a few household goods, 
packed in canvas-covered wagons drawn by oxen or 
horses. Their journey from the east occupied from 
six to eight weeks. The route which most of them 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 79 

took led through the wilds of western New York and 
along the southern shore of Lake Erie. Some came 
by way of the lakes, while others came by land. 
They encountered formidable embarrassments on the 
way, especially those who came by land. The roads 
were but old Indian trails, the mud deep and the rivers 
unbridged. On arriving at the home spot of their selec- 
tion in the wilderness, they at once, after erecting a log 
cabin, cleared away a patch of the forest about it, 
and let in a patch of sunlight to cheer the wild out- 
look of their isolation. The rivers abounded with 
fish and the woodlands with game. From these 
sources they were supplied with meat. From year 
to year they cleared a few additional acres of land, 
until a spacious and productive farm smiled about 
them, stocked with cattle, horses, hogs and sheep, 
and thus by dint of patient industry and the practice 
of a rigid economy soon acquired a healthful home- 
stead, together with all the substantial comforts of 
life. The log cabin and log barn gave place to a 
spacious frame house and barn, and in less than a half 
century every part of the Western Reserve became 
dotted with the happy homes of civilized life. 

In accomplishing all this, the original pioneers 
endured hardships and suffered privations which may 
be imagined, perhaps, but cannot be expressed in 



8o SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

words. Some idea, however, of their career and per- 
plexing embarrassments may be derived from their 
experiences. The following citations from the his- 
tory of their times will illustrate, to some extent, 
their trials, haps and mishaps, while engaged in sub- 
duing the asperities of an inhospitable wilderness and 
converting it into a paradise of fruits and flowers and 
social enjoyment. 

David McConoughey was of Scotch descent. He 
removed in 1810 from Blandford, Massachusetts, to 
the Western Reserve, and brought with him his fam- 
ily, consisting of his wife and six children. He left 
Blandford in the month of November. The journey 
at that season of the year was extremely tedious and 
dreary. They traveled nearly six hundred miles 
through mud and snow, with one yoke of oxen and 
one horse attached to a wagon laden with the family 
and a few goods and supplies, and were fifty-three 
days on the way. No account has been given of 
what occurred while on their journey, save of the 
last night, which was spent in the woods in Bedford, 
the second town west of Bainbridge, where they 
encamped for the night, and were serenaded through 
the weary hours by a pack of hungry wolves that 
seemed chanting their own death-song, while the 
heroic members of the immigrant family assailed 



HOMES IN THE Wli^DERNESS. 8 I 

them with guns and clubs and exterminated most of 
them. On the first of January, i8ii, the family 
arrived at the cabin of Samuel McConoughey, a 
younger brother of David, who had settled in the 
northwestern part of Aurora in 1806. Here the 
family remained till the following November. 

In the early part of the year 181 1, David pur- 
chased one hundred acres of land of Benjamin Gor- 
ham, in the southeast corner of Bainbridge, Geauga 
county. Upon this land the father and sons com- 
menced clearing away a portion of the forest and build- 
ing a log cabin, which was soon ready for occupancy, 
and into which the family moved on Thanksgiving day, 
181 1. It was a rudely constructed cabin, eighteen by 
twenty feet, with clieerless aspect, a puncheon floor 
made of split logs, and a fireplace built of stone, with a 
chimney laid up with flat sticks and plastered inside 
v/ith clay-mortar to prevent its taking fire, a chamber 
without floor, a roof of stave-like shingles held in place 
by long, heavy poles, an outside door on wooden 
hinges with the latch-string ** hanging out," and open 
apertures for windows which, for want of glass, were 
curtamed with thin white cloth, admitting but a faint 
light. The crevices between the logs in the walls of 
the cabin were wedged with split sticks and plastered 
over with clay-mortar to exclude the wind and drift- 



82 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

ing snows of winter. All the furniture they had was 
a few articles which they brought with them from 
New England. These were by no means adequate 
to their necessities. They supplied the deficiency by 
manufacturing for themselves rude stools for chairs, 
a high bench for a table, and poles interlaced with 
ropes of twisted bark for bedsteads. The cabin fire- 
place was broad and deep, so as to receive huge 
back logs, which were drawn into the cabin 
through the doorway in winter on a handsled, 
and often by horse power. The small wood was 
then piled in front, and in this way a comfortable fire 
was kept up by day and preserved in the burning 
back log during the night. For a time this McCon- 
oughcy family were the only inhabitants in the town- 
ship of Bainbridge. Their nearest neighbor was a 
brother located in Aurora township, six miles dis- 
tant. The dense forest intervening was infested with 
bears and wolves and intersected with deep muddy 
creeks and black-ash swamps. This made an inter- 
change of visits hazardous. McConoughey's wife 
was a remarkable woman, possessed of great energy 
and practical good sense. She contrived to make 
her cabin home as cozy and pleasant as possible for 
herself and family, and succeeded in proving that 
life in the wilderness may be a happy one. 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 83 

At this time wild turkeys, deer, bears, wolves, 
wildcats, raccoons, opossums, porcupines, elk and 
rattlesnakes still abounded in almost every part of 
the Western Reserve. There were also several frag- 
mentary tribes of Indians, The sons of the white 
immigrants soon became experts in the art of hunt- 
ing and trapping wild game. A son of McConoughey 
named Porter and his cousin, Jarvis White, discov- 
ered, while on a hunting excursion, a large hollow 
tree lying on the ground with a hole in its side. The 
boys, thinking there might be wild game in the log, 
fired several shots into the hole, when the dog rushed 
into it and attacked a bear that had been wounded. 
The howls and growls that followed were agonizing, 
and the hunters feared that the bear would kill the 
dog. The father of one of the boys arrived just at 
that moment, threw off his coat, crawled into the 
hollow log, seized the dog by the hind legs, and 
slowly backing, with the aid of his son drew the dog, 
whose teeth held the bear, out with him — dog, bear 
and all. It was "a. long pull, a strong pull, and a 
pull altogether" that did it. The bear was then 
killed with a bear-lance. It was a large, fat she-bear, 
weighing over four hundred pounds. The hollow in 
the prostrate tree on examination was found to con- 
tain two more bearSj or cubs^ half the size of the 



84 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

mother, which were also seized and killed The flesh 
and skins of the bears were utilized, and furnished 
both food and bedding for the family. Fat bear-meat, 
when salted, was regarded by the pioneers as a good 
substitute for salt pork. In these early times verit- 
able salt pork cost from sixteen to twenty-five dol- 
lars a barrel, while salt by the barrel was equally 
expensive. 

From necessity the primitive settlers sought out 
**many inventions." In want of steel traps they 
constructed log traps in which they caught wolves 
and bears. These traps were four-sided, made of 
logs and pinned at the ends. On one side was a slid- 
ing door which could be raised by a spring pole with 
a bait attached, so that when the animal entered the 
inside of the trap and disturbed the bait the door 
would instantly descend and catch him. In this way 
thousands of wolves and bears were caught and ex- 
terminated. 

In one instance a bear was caught in Geauga 
county in a very different manner. Two men were 
engaged in a sugar-camp, making maple sugar. They 
had left syrup in the kettle at night for three successive 
nights, and in the morning found the syrup had as 
regularly disappeared. They suspected the thief 
They were well armed with a jug of whiskey, and on 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 85 

the next night poured a Hberal quantity of it into the 
syrup, tasted it and found the mixture pretty strong, 
but sweet and palatable. They drank freely of it 
themselves, and then wrapping their blankets about 
them camped for the night and enjoyed an unusually 
sound sleep. One of the men awoke before the other 
in the morning, and saw, to his surprise, a huge bear 
lying along side his companion and both dead asleep. 
The toddy had proved too much for the bear as well 
as for the men. The wakeful man seized an axe and 
dispatched the thief who had stolen the syrup, and 
then awoke his slumbering companion. Both men 
congratulated themselves on the result of their strata- 
gem, and doubtless renewed their faith in the virtues 
of whiskey. 

Thomas Umberfield and wife emigrated from Con- 
necticut to the Western Reserve in 1798, with a fam- 
ily of several children, and were the first family that 
settled at Burton. The proprietors of the township 
gave Mrs. Umberfield sixty acres of land as an in- 
ducement to settle there, and though it was an un- 
broken wilderness at that time. Burton was declared 
to be in point of soil and natural beauty of location 
a second garden of Eden. The family came from 
Buffalo by boat to Fairport, sailing thence three milei 
up the river where they landed, and whence they 



S6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

proceeded to Burton on a rude sled drawn by oxen. 
They arrived at Burton, in June, where they pitched 
their tent. Mrs. Umberfield was a beautiful woman 
with a young family of promising sons and daughters. 
In a few days, with the aid of friendly settlers from 
distant points who had heard of their arrival, a log 
cabin was speedily constructed for the family. Not 
long afterward the friendly Indians of that vicinity 
camped near the house. The chief saw Mrs. Qmber- 
field's oldest daughter, Liney, and was smitten with 
her beauty. She was then but fifteen years old. 
The chief proposed to buy her and offered $i,ooo 
and his own son for her. The offer being declined, 
he intimated that he would steal her. For a Ions: 
time her mother would not permit her to go out of 
the house alone. Yet the younger children often 
played with the Indian children, and were fond of 
swinging in the loop of a wild grapevine that hung 
from the treetops near the cabin. The Indian boys 
would give the swing a violent push, send it high, 
and then set their dogs after it, and laugh to see the 
dogs puzzled and foiled in attempting to catch it. 
This sort of sport equally pleased the white children 
who sat in the swing. The children of the two races 
seemed to enjoy the society of each other with a 
relish. This pleased the Indian mothers and fathers, 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 8/ 

who were not only friendly to the white settlers, but 
showed a disposition to exchange visits with them in 
a social way. But the Indian chief, who was smitten 
with the pretty white girl, failed in his attempts to 
obtain her. 

Early in the spring of 1 8 12, a party of Indians en- 
camped in Hampden, Geauga county, and remained 
till falL The chief was a man of distinction among 
his people. His squaw was as gracious as she was 
beautiful, and received her white visitors with becom- 
ing dignity, arrayed in the richest style of decorative 
art known to her race. The article of dress which 
she most relied upon to give additional lustre to 
her native charms was a deer-skin cape, close fitting 
at the throat and flowing down gracefully about the 
waist. The cape was ingeniously wrought in singular 
devices with glass beads and porcupine quills. Hun- 
dreds of little silver brooches, with tongues like 
buckles, were interspersed artistically among the 
other devices on this cape or overgarment. In ad- 
dition to this her dainty pedal extremities were shod 
with a pair of deer-skin moccasins, ornamented in a 
style quite as elaborate as her outer robe. The white 
ladies were particularly fond of exchanging visits with 
this lady squaw, who soon became quite an adept in 
the practice of social civilities as known to civilized life. 



88 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

The truth is, the Indian possesses many noble traits 
of character, and when treated with the consideration 
that is due him, he always proves true and faithful to 
his friends, whether they be of his own race or of the 
white race. The Indians affiliate in tribes. A tribe 
is regarded by its members as one common family 
or brotherhood. The rights of each tribe, and of 
each member of it, are sacred, and the entire tribe is 
bound to defend and protect these mutual rights. 
When one tribe infringes upon the rights of another 
the usual result is '*an eye for an eye and a tooth for 
a tooth" in accordance with the divine law of the old 
Hebrews. But among members of the same tribe 
these children of the forest have a much higher re- 
gard for the rights of property and the practice of the 
moral virtues than exists in any civilized land of mod- 
ern times. When an Indian hunter within the terri- 
tory*of his tribe kills a deer, for instance, and hangs it 
by the heels to the limb of a tree with his mark upon 
it, until he can come for it, perhaps not until the 
lapse of several days, he is sure to find it untouched 
where he left it, and though another Indian of his 
tribe in a state of starvation may have found it, yet 
the starving Indian, seeing the mark of his tribe on 
the tempting carcass, would rather die than violate 
the rights of property vested in his tribal brother who 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 89 

caught the game, and who might need it as much as 
he. But how is it in a civilized Christian community? 
We all know that if a neighbor should kill and dress 
a fat pig, hang him up by the heels and leave him 
hanging over night out of doors, ten to one the pig 
would be stolen before morning. 

Enos D. Kingsley, an emigrant from Massachu- 
setts, came to the Reserve in April, 1816, with a wife 
and two or three young children, and located at 
Bainbridge, where he built a log cabin, in which he 
and his young wife began life in the wilderness, with 
high hopes of success. In the following November 
his wife died. There was no graveyard in the town- 
ship. Her remains were carried by hand on a bier 
through the woods to Aurora for interment, a dis- 
tance of more than five miles. A pathway through 
the forest was cleared by axemen as the procession 
advanced. The pall-bearers, who were able-bodied 
men, became greatly fatigued, and frequently called 
the procession to a halt in order to give them time 
to recover the shoes they had lost in the mud and 
mire. Mr. Kingsley was so overcome by his sud- 
den bereavement that his friends advised him to 
return with his children to New England. This he 
did, but remained away but a short time, when he 
returned to his rude cabin in Ohio. 



go SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

It SO happened that Mr. Kingsley, in January, 
1 8 19, was called from Balnbridge to Mentor, and, 
passing through Kirtland, he came to the Cha- 
grin river, which was overflowing its banks. It 
was an unbridged river. He was on horseback 
and attempted to ford it. When about half way 
across the stream, he discovered a lady attempting 
to cross on the trunks of two trees which had fallen 
from either bank and so interlapped as to form a 
kind of artificial bridge, though a very narrow and 
hazardous one. The lady had, with evident timidity, 
reached the midway point of the merciless stream, 
when the young widower hastened to shore, hitched 
his horse, ran to her relief, and assisted her to reach 
the shore in safety. Her name was Miss Mary Mann, 
a school teacher in the vicinity, who was returning 
home. She expressed to him her gratitude and he 
expressed to her his admiration of her fortitude. 
This novel introduction prolonged the interview 
somewhat on the bank of the turbulent, though un- 
listening river. The parties related to each other 
their histories, and became deeply interested. The 
young widower proposed on the spot, and was gra- 
ciously accepted. Within a few weeks afterward the 
happy pair were made still happier by a union in 
marriage. They at once assumed possession of the 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 9I 

log cabin which Kingsley had built in Bainbridge. 
She proved a kind and affectionate mother to his 
young children by the first wife, and bore him several 
I additional responsibilities that received the tenderest 
care and affection. 

In the course of three years after the marriage, 
Mr. Kinsley became so crippled with rheumatism 
that he could not attend to the business of cultivating 
and improving his new farm. He found in his school- 
marm wife, however, a helpmeet equal to any emer- 
gency. During his disability she not only spun, 
wove, and did her housework, but worked on the 
farm, chopped brush, cleared land, ploughed and 
sowed, and conducted the farmwork generally with 
wonderful success. In this instance she assumed 
man's rights from necessity, and that, too, without 
abandoning woman's rights, or indulging in political 
aspirations. She was a true woman in every sense of 
the word. Her husband, after some years recovered 
his health, and they both lived to acquire wealth and 
rear a happy family of children. Both died at a ripe 
old age, and side by side fill honored graves. 

Deacon Pomeroy, in 1809, awoke one morning 
and found that his cattle were all missing and started 
in pursuit of them. They had evidently strayed 
from his premises, been stolen, or frightened away. 



92 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

He spent the day in searching for them through 
the forests of Hampden, Thompson and Montville 
townships, but did not find them. Night overtook 
him and he started on a direct line for home. A 
pack of hungry wolves scented his track and followed 
him with bloodthirsty intent. They approached him 
so closely that he was compelled to climb a tree to 
save himself from being devoured. He sprang into 
the branches of a wild plum tree. The wolves 
reached the tree at about the same moment. They 
snuffed their victim in the branches, howled and be- 
gan gnawing the trunk of the tree at the roots, as if 
expecting to cut the tree down. The deacon did 
not like his hungry, impatient associates, and began 
hallooing with all his strength of lungs for help, hop- 
ing some settler or belated hunter might hear his 
voice and come to his rescue. No one came. The 
nearest settler was John Quiggle, a mile distant or 
more. The deacon continued to halloo and the 
wolves to howl and gnaw at the root of the tree. 
At last the deacon was heard by Mrs. Quiggle and 
her children. Her husband was absent from home. 
She knew some one was lost in the forest and was in 
distress, but durst not venture out amid the darkness 
of night. She did what she thought the next best 
thing. She blew the dinner-horn — a conch shell — 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 93 

loud and long at her cabin door in reply to the dea- 
con's oft repeated halloo. The deacon awaited relief 
in vain. He watched the wolves all night, and the 
wolves watched him. He did not like this kind of 
close communion service. It was too close. He was 
not relieved till broad daylight in the morning, when 
the wolves dispersed and he descended from the tree, 
struck a trail and found his way home in safety. He 
said the dinner horn that replied to his vociferations 
at intervals during the night, though it gave no re- 
lief, was the *' sweetest music" to his ear he had 
ever heard. 

On another occasion, in the same wild region of 
country and at about the same time, Mrs. Margaret 
King was returning home on horseback through the 
dense woodlands from a visit to a distant neighbor, 
when she discovered on the way a pretty looking lit- 
tle black animal which seemed playful and harmless. 
She fell in love with it, dismounted and caught it and 
began petting it kindly and clasping it to her breast, 
when it gave a significant outcry, and its mother, a 
huge bear, came rushing from the thickets to its res- 
cue. Mrs. King instantly dropped her pet, sprang 
into the saddle just in time to avoid serious results. 
The maternal bear took her cub by the nape of the 
neck and hastily retired into the depths of the forest 



94 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

without manifesting any disposition to rebuke the 
affectionate regard that had been bestowed on her 
offspring by a lady. 

All this is but an epitome of what was generally 
true of pioneer life in the Western Reserve. The 
primitive settlers brought with them little else than 
their Puritanic faith — a faith in themselves, in schools, 
in churches, and in the practice of the moral virtues. 
A few of them came into the wilderness with money 
sufficient to purchase large tracts of land. Among 
the few was John Ford, He purchased two thousand 
acres of land in the township of Burton, in 1804. 
Other parties had purchased more or less land in the 
township at an earlier date, and several families had 
already settled at Burton. All felt a desire to establish 
not only a good common school, but a school of a 
higher order, an academy or college. As early as 1801 
Rev. Joseph Badger, the itinerant missionary, sug- 
gested the idea of obtaining a charter from the legis- 
lature, authorizing the establishment of a college at 
Burton. In this project he was earnestly seconded 
by others, and a charter was granted in 1803. In the 
act the corporation was called **The Erie Literary 
Society." The first corporator named was Joseph 
Hudson and the last Rev. Joseph Badger. The Jos- 
ephs of those days seem to have abounded in good 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 95 

works. Whether dressed in as many colors as their 
ancient progenitor, does not appear, but it is evident 
that they were men of earnest purpose, who sought 
to elevate mankind by the only true method — edu- 
cation. In 1806, William Law donated to this infant 
college eleven hundred and thirty acres of land with 
the reservation that if the college should be removed 
from Burton the land should revert to his heirs. A 
building 25 by 50 feet intended for school purposes 
was commenced in 1804 and finished in 1806. It 
was two stories high. The lower story was used for the 
common school, and the upper story for the double 
purpose of an academic school and for religious wor- 
ship on Sundays. John Ford, the rich landowner, 
cut and hewed most of the timber for the building. 
It was regarded as the most elegant and imposing 
edifice in the Western Reserve. Mr. Ford was the 
father of Seabury Ford, who was but a young lad at 
the time the school was established. Seabury re- 
ceived his elementary education at this school, and 
was fitted for college in its academic department. 
He was sent to Yale college where he graduated in 
1825, and after distinguishing himself as a lawyer 
and statesman was elected governor of Ohio in 1848. 
He died at Burton in 1855. The first teacher in the 
Burton academy, as it was generally called, was 



g6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

Peter Hitchcock. He was a young lawyer, who af- 
terwards acquired renown in his professional career 
and was elevated to the supreme bench of the state. 
David Tod, the eminent war governor of Ohio, was 
also educated at Burton academy. There were many 
resolute young men and young ladies who, in the 
palmy days of the institution, walked five or six 
miles through the wilds of the forest to attend its 
classic course of instruction. The original building 
was burned in i8io. The trustees were seriously em- 
barrassed in obtaining the requisite funds to rebuild. 
They commenced, however, the work in 1817, and 
after many hinderances succeeded in finishing it in 
18 19. The institution continued to maintain its col- 
legiate character until 1834, when, by the influence of 
the Presbyterian and Congregational churches of the 
Western Reserve, a theological department was added 
to the school, though strenuously opposed by the 
leading men of Burton. This introduction of sec- 
tarianism proved an embarrassment instead of a bene- 
fit, and soon so reduced the patronage of the institu- 
tion as to render its prospects of success discouraging, 
if not hopeless. This induced its removal as a col- 
lege to Hudson. It was for this reason that the land 
endowment it had received from William Law revert- 
ed to his heirs. It was now called " Western Reserve 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. p/ 

College." It remained at Hudson for nearly half a 
century, where It did good work and achieved a wide 
reputation. But, in 1882, a ''change came over its 
dream," when it struck its tent and migrated to the 
city of Cleveland where it assumed the ponderous 
title — Adelbert College of Western Reserve Univer- 
sity — and where it now considers itself comfortably 
and permanently settled for life. It is an aspiring 
institution and has the ability to accomplish high aims. 
Yet the primitive little town of Burton has the envl- 
able honor of being its birthplace. It was at Burton 
that the irrepressible spirit of western popular edu- 
cation was begotten — a spirit whose influence now 
pervades not only the Western Reserve but the entire 
state. 

Life in the wilderness was a life of toil, of suffer- 
ing, and of deprivation, inspired by hope. It was 
an educated civilization that came to subdue a wil- 
derness. It achieved its work within a comparatively 
brief period. Where roamed the wild beast and the 
savage, we now see a land of beauty and of plenty 
— a land characterized by a refined and intelligent 
population. All this has been achieved as if by 
magic. It is the golden fruit of pioneer labor and 
enterprise — a rich inheritance left to all subsequent 
generations. 



98 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

The pioneers possessed a degree of Puritanic blood 
that made them invincible. They looked ahead and 
went ahead. They were, in fact, a peculiar people, 
self-reliant and ever hopeful amid discouragements, 
and ever triumphant amid adversities. Armed with 
the shield of faith and the panoply of the moral vir- 
tues, they fought the battle of life and won the vic- 
tory. In a word, they were an earnest race, evan- 
gelical in character, who migrated from New Eng- 
land, the centre of a refined civilization. They 
carried the gospel with them and practiced what they 
preached. Their women were not ideal, but real. 
They handled the distaff, spun, wove, baked and 
brewed, knit, patched and made garments, and mod- 
estly and lovingly devoted themselves to the duties 
of the domestic circle, the care of their children and 
the interests of their confiding husbands. It was 
the cheering '* light of their countenance " that illu- 
minated the interior of the log cabin and gave to it 
the charms of a palace. The women of that day 
were sufficiently well-bred to grace a palace, but were 
content to move in their appropriate sphere. They 
were not afflicted with ennui, nor with a desire for 
notoriety. They had no masculine aspirations, nor 
did they sigh for silks, satins and laces. They were 
intelligent as well as industrious, and social in their 



HOMES IN THE WILDERNESS. 99 

habits. On extra occasions they dressed in English 
calico with nice check aprons, but ordinarily in short 
gowns and petticoats of domestic manufacture. 
Yet, with all this simplicity of apparel, they were 
generally supplied with a rich assortment of jewelry, 
which they, like the Roman matron, took great 
pride in exhibiting — their sons and daughters — 
jewels whose lustre, in a moral sense, not only at- 
tracts admiration still, but crowns the memory of an 
honored ancestry with a circlet of light as radiant as 
the stars. 



Western Reserve Jurists, 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. 

There are stars in history as well as in the depths 
of the sky. In the early history of the Western Re- 
serve there glitters a stellar group of legal talent that 
commands our reverent admiration. Yet of the 
many Western Reserve jurists who have adorned the 
bench and bar of the great state of Ohio, but few, if 
any, are entitled to take higher rank than Calvin 
Pease, Peter Hitchcock and George Tod, of the early 
times ; and Reuben Wood, Sherlock J. Andrews and 
Rufus P. Ranney, of the later times. These are all 
representative men. They well knew that education 
lies at the foundation of character. They therefore 
began life by securing for themselves the elements 
of success. They were all possessed of a high de- 
gree of native tact and talent which, coupled with 
enterprise and noble aims, enabled them to reach a 
professional eminence that is rarely excelled. They 
were, in fact, the architects of their own fortunes. 



104 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

In working out the problem of life, each wrought, 
as it were, at the anvil with hammer in hand, and on 
his own account. 

" Thus at the flaming forge of life 
Our fortunes must be wrought ; 
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped 
Each burning deed and thought." 

It is hardly necessary to say, perhaps, that bio- 
graphical sketches of these eminent jurists of the 
Western Reserve have already been written and pub- 
lished, and have in fact become a part of the history 
of their times and of the state. In this article, there- 
fore, nothing more will be attempted than simply to 
present these jurists in a group, with a brief outline 
of their career and the saHent points of character that 
distinguished them. 

JUDGE PEASE. 

Calvin Pease was born at Suffield, Connecticut, 
September 9, 1776. He received an academic edu- 
cation and excelled as a scholar, especially in classi- 
cal literature. He studied law with Gideon Granger, 
was admitted to the bar in 1798, and commenced 
practice at New Hartford in his native state. In 
March, 1800, he emigrated and settled in Youngs- 
town, Ohio, then but a small hamlet of log cabins 
hidden away in the wilds of the "far west," where 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. IO5 

the law of might gave right. But this was not the 
kind of law he desired to practice, though well quali- 
fied physically to excel in it. He had nothing upon 
which to depend for gaining a livehhood but his 
hands and his wits. He did not seek office, but 
offices fell upon him like a shower of snowflakes. 
Soon after his arrival at Youngstown a postoffice 
was established there, and he received the appoint- 
ment of postmaster. The emoluments of the office 
consisted mainly in the honor it conferred. In 
August, 1800, he was appointed clerk of the terri- 
torial court of common pleas and general quarter 
sessions for the newly organized county of Trumbull. 
The county-seat was at Warren, where the court 
held its first session between two corn cribs for the 
want of better accommodations. The court in its 
novel surroundings assumed an air of dignity that 
partook largely of the comical. Pease was born a 
wit and a humorist, and highly appreciated the 
situation. He was regarded as a modest young 
lawyer of unusual promise. He disliked a mere clerk- 
ship, and in the following October was admitted to 
the western bar by the general court of the territory 
northwest of the Ohio river. Not long after this he 
removed from Youngstown to Warren. In 1803 the 
state of Ohio was admitted into the Union. The 



I06 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

legislature, in organizing the state government, 
divided the state into three judicial circuits and 
elected Pease, though but twenty-six years of age, 
to the office of president-judge for the third circuit, 
in which the county of Trumbull was included. He 
held the office for nearly seven years and acquitted 
himself to the entire satisfaction of the public, except 
in one instance, when a constitutional question arose 
under the act of 1805, relative to the jurisdiction of 
justices of the peace. Judge Pease held that certain 
provisions of the act were unconstitutional, and 
therefore null and void. The decision created an 
excitement which took a political turn, especially 
among members of the legislature who had passed 
the act, and who professed to think that the judge 
had not only exceeded his judicial power, but had 
unjustly cast a damaging reflection on the wisdom 
of the legislature. The case was taken to the su- 
preme court, where the decision of Judge Pease was 
affirmed. This unexpected result so vexed the agi- 
tators that they proceeded at once to procure the 
impeachment of both Judge Pease and the judges of 
the supreme court, but on hearing before the senate 
signally failed of success. The consequence was that 
the decision made by Judge Pease became standard 
authority, while his popularity as a judge was largely 



'WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. 10/ 

increased. But he was so disgusted with this attempt 
at impeachment that he resigned the judgeship and 
resumed the practice of law at Warren, where he 
resided. 

He was a favorite with the people of his county, 
who, in 1 8 12, elected him to the state senate. As 
a statesman he took a prominent stand and acquitted 
himself with eminent ability. In 1815 the legisla- 
ture elected him a judge of the supreme court for 
the term of seven years, and at the expiration of his 
term reelected him to the same office. He dis- 
charged the duties of supreme judge for fourteen 
years, and for the last seven years of his service was 
the chief-justice of the state. At the expiration of 
his second term he retired to private life. In 183 1 
he was again elected to the legislature. This was 
the last public office he consented to accept. 

Judge Pease was a remarkable man in many re- 
spects, and happily adapted to the times in which he 
lived. He began life with a determination to achieve 
success. Nature had endowed him with enviable gifts. 
He excelled as a wit and a humorist, and for this 
reason was regarded as the sparkling centre of the 
social circle. He was a man of imposing presence 
and graceful manners, and always seemed to move in 
an atmosphere of sunshine. His purity of character 



I08 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

and integrity as a judge were never assailed or ques- 
tioned. He was quick in his perceptions, and could 
readily grasp the most perplexing questions, and as 
readily apply the great principles of law and equity 
in the solution of them. He would never allow a 
just cause to be sacrificed on the altar of legal tech- 
nicalities. His mind, like that of Lord Mansfield, 
was too comprehensive and too deeply imbued with 
a sense of right and love of justice to administer the 
law upon obsolete rules of special pleadings, especi- 
ally when their rigid application would make the 
court an instrument of wrong and injustice. He was 
an admirer of the English classics, and read them 
with a keen relish, especially Swift and Stearne, and 
could repeat many of the old English ballads. He 
often sang snatches of them to beguile the long and 
tedious journeys which he and his associates on the 
bench were compelled to make through native forests 
and muddy roads in order to meet appointments in 
holding court in the several counties of the state. 
They all rode on horseback, and often forded swollen 
rivers at the hazard of their lives, and when belated, 
as they sometimes were, in reaching their point of 
destination, were obliged to encamp for the night in 
the dense woodlands. They wore green baize leg- 
gins wrapped around their legs from their heels to 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. IO9 

their knees to protect their boots and pantaloons 
from an unseemly accumulation of mud, and carried 
in saddlebags changes of linen and other supplies, 
and also carried in their heads the only law library 
to which they had access. New questions of law in- 
cident to a new country were constantly arising for 
the decision of which no precedent existed. The 
judges were therefore compelled to base their decis- 
ions more or less on their own intuitive sense of jus- 
tice and equity. It was in this way that they con- 
structed a system of western common law which is 
regarded as standard authority. Most of the decis- 
ions rendered by Chief Justice Pease, so far as now 
known, are contained in the first four volumes of 
'Hammond's Reports.' These were the earliest law 
reports published by the state. The judicial career 
of Judge Pease terminated in 1830. He devoted the 
remaining part of his life to professional business and 
the management of his private affairs. He died 
September 17, 1839, at his residence in Warren. 
Whether viewed in the light of a judge and states- 
man, or in reference to his career as a lawyer and 
citizen, it must be conceded that he was a man of 
mark, and in all respects worthy of the enviable 
honors with which his life was crowned. 



no SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

JUDGE HITCHCOCK. 

Peter Hitchcock was born October 19, 1 78 1, at 
Cheshire, Connecticut. After receiving a common 
school education he taught a district school in winter 
and labored on a farm in summer, and in this way 
obtained sufficient means to give himself a liberal 
education. He graduated at Yale college in 1801, 
adopted the legal profession, and opened an office in 
his native town. In 1806 he married and removed 
to the Western Reserve, and settled on a new farm 
at Burton. He adapted himself to circumstances, 
and devoted his time to the improvement of his farm 
in connection with the practice of law, and for the 
want of a more productive employment engaged in 
teaching school in the winter months. In the course 
of a few years the population of the county so ad- 
vanced as to afford him a much broader field as a 
lawyer. He soon acquired an extensive practice, 
and became known as an able and an honest lawyer. 
His style of oratory was not as rhetorical as it was 
colloquial and logical. Everybody could understand 
him, and everybody believed in him. In arguing a 
cause, whether to a jury, a justice of the peace or 
before the judges of the higher courts, he was always 
listened to with profound attention. He never en- 
gaged in the management of a cause without having 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. Ill 

made a thorough and exhaustive preparation. In 
1 8 10 he represented Geauga county in the lower 
branch of the legislature. In 1812 he was elected 
to the state senate, and in 18 14 reelected to the same 
position and chosen speaker. In 1816 he was elected 
to congress and took his seat in December, 18 17. In 
1 8 19 the legislature of the state elected him a judge 
of the supreme court for the constitutional term of 
seven years, and in 1826 reelected him to the same 
office. At the close of his second term a change in 
politics relegated him to private life. Yet, like Ban- 
quo's ghost, he could neither be put down nor kept 
down. The people in 1833 returned him to the state 
senate, when he was again elected speaker. In 1835 
he was restored to the supreme bench. For many 
years he occupied the position of chief justice. , At 
the close of his term adverse political influences re- 
lieved him from judicial service. But in 1845 he 
was again restored to the supreme bench, and in 
1850, near the close of his judicial term, he con- 
sented to obey the popular voice, and accepted a 
seat in the convention called to revise the constitu- 
tion of the state. In this capacity he rendered val- 
uable service, and still continued to discharge his 
duties on the bench. When his term as judge ex- 
pired in 1852 he had reached the ripe age of three 



112 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

score years and ten, and from choice, like Cincinna- 
tus, returned to the plough, after a public service of 
over forty years. He died March 4, 1854. 

Judge Hitchcock was beloved as a citizen, and was 
a truly great man as a statesman and a judge without 
being conscious of it. He never indulged in vain as- 
pirations. In his physical make-up he was a man of 
symmetrical proportions, erect and broad-chested, 
with a large head filled with solid sense. He had a 
sedate and Puritanic expression of face that gave him 
the air of a clergyman. In legal lore he was pro- 
found, plodding in research and acute in discrimina- 
tion. He sifted the wheat from the chaff in a law 
case with intuitive facility, and rarely erred in judg- 
ment. He was a man of few words, but when he 
did speak he always spoke to the point. He was 
revered by the bar, and was generally regarded as 
one of the ablest jurists of his times. His judicial 
decisions are not only esteemed as authority but as 
models of sound logic. They will ever remain a 
proud monument to his name and memory. 

JUDGE TOD. 

George Tod was born at Suffield, Connecticut, 
December II, 1773. He graduated at Yale college 
in 1795. He then studied law and was admitted to 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II3 

the bar and practiced law for a few years at New 
Haven, in his native state. He married in 1797, 
took the prevalent western fever of that day, and in 
1800 removed to Youngstown, Ohio, a central point 
at that time in the Western Reserve. Soon after his 
arrival Governor St. Clair of the northwestern terri- 
tory happened to m.ake his acquaintance, and was so 
much pleased with him as a young gentleman of 
polished manners and fine literary acquirements, 
that he at once appointed him his private secretary. 
This brought young Tod into public notice and gave 
him a high position in the social circle. He re- 
mained at Youngstown until 18 16, when he pur- 
chased a farm in the vicinity known as Briar Hill, 
where he permanently settled for life. At the first 
term of the court of common pleas and general 
quarter sessions of Trumbull county, held August 
25, 1800, at Warren, young Tod was appointed 
prosecuting attorney for the county. His first offi- 
cial business at this term was to prepare indictments 
against Joseph McMahon and Richard Storer for the 
murder of two Indians at Salt Springs, near Warren. 
McMahon was arrested, put upon his trial and ac- 
quitted on the ground of acting in self-defense. 
Storer managed to escape. Tod, in discharging his 
duties as prosecuting attorney in the trial of McMa- 



114 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

hon, displayed a degree of legal ability and a bril- 
liancy of oratory that surprised court and jury, and 
at once gave him prominence as a lawyer. In 1804 
the county of Trumbull elected him a senator to the 
state legislature. In 1806 he was appointed a judge 
of the supreme court. At a session of the legisla- 
ture in 1808-9 an attempt was made to impeach him 
for affirming the decision made by Judge Pease rela- 
tive to the constitutionality of certain provisions of 
the act of 1805, defining the jurisdiction of justices 
of the peace, but on trial before the senate Judge 
Tod was honorably acquitted. Yet the political ex- 
citement connected with this attempt at impeach- 
ment induced the legislature at its next session, in 
18 10, to legislate the judge, with several other state 
dignitaries, out of office. But the people of Trum- 
bull county would not permit the judge to remain in 
private life, and in the fall of 18 10 honored him with 
an election to the state senate. When the war of 
18 1 2 was declared, President Madison tendered him 
a commission as major in the regular army, which he 
accepted. He proved himself a brave and gallant 
officer, and did not leave the service until the war 
closed. In the meantime he was promoted to the 
rank of lieutenant-colonel of the Seventeenth regi- 
ment of United States infantry. When peace was 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II5 

declared he resigned his commission and returned to 
the practice of law. In the winter of i8 15-16 the 
legislature appointed him president-judge of the 
third circuit for seven years. At the expiration of 
his term he was reappointed for a second term. After 
a service of fourteen years as the presiding judge of 
the circuit he again resumed his law practice. In 
1836 he was elected prosecuting attorney of Trum- 
bull county, an office in which he consented to serve 
for a second time. This was the first and last office 
which he held in the circle of his official career. He 
died at Briar Hill, April ii, 1841. He was the 
father of David Tod, late governor of Ohio. 

Judge Tod was a gentleman whom nature had en- 
dowed with rich and rare gifts. She gave him a 
graceful figure, an eloquent tongue and the spirit of 
a true manhood. In his style of manners he was 
one of the most accomplished men of his times. He 
was always cheerful, cordial and overflowing with 
pleasantries. He ranked high at the bar as a brilliant 
lawyer, in the legislature as a wise statesman, and en 
the bench as an able, upright and descriminating 
judge. Among the people and in the society of his 
friends he was always a favorite. 

*' None knew him but to love him ; 
Nor named him but to praise." 



Il6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

JUDGE WOOD. 

Of the later times, or second series of eminent jur- 
ists, Reuben Wood was prominent. He was born 
in 1792, at Middletown, Vermont. He received an 
elementary education at home. His father died when 
he was quite young, and left him to the care of his 
mother. When he reached fifteen years of age he 
felt a stong desire to obtain a classical education, and 
went to Canada to reside with an uncle, and while 
there studied the classics with a Catholic priest, and 
at the same time read law with Honorable Barnabas 
Bid well. When war was declared in 18 12, an at- 
tempt was made by the Canadian authorities to sub- 
ject young Wood to military service against his own 
country. To this he would not submit, and, though 
placed under guard, succeeded, at the hazard of his 
life, in crossing Lake Ontario in a small boat, and in 
landing at Sacket's Harbor, within the borders of the 
state of New York, in safety. He then engaged in 
farm work for the summer at the old homestead, 
with a desire to aid, so far as he could, his widowed 
mother in supporting herself and the younger chil- 
dren left to her care. In the fall he was received into 
the office of an eminent lawyer at Middletown, where 
he completed his legal studies. He rr.arried, and in 
18 1 8 emigrated to Ohio and settled at Cleveland, 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II/ 

where he engaged in the practice of law with en- 
couraging success. In 1825 he was elected a mem- 
ber of the state senate, and reelected in 1827 and in 
1829 to the same position. In 1830 he was elected 
president-judge of the third judicial circuit, and in 
1833 was elected a judge of the supreme court by a 
unanimous vote of the general assembly. In 1841 
he was reelected to the supreme bench by a like vote. 
For the last three years while on the bench he was 
chief justice of the state. In 1850 he was elected 
governor of the state by a majority of eleven thous- 
and. In 185 1 he was reelected governor under the 
new constitution by a majority of twenty-six thousand. 
In the political field he was known as the " Cuyahoga 
Chief." In 1852 Marietta college conferred on him 
the honorary degree of doctor of laws. In 1853 he 
resigned the office of governor and accepted from the 
general government the appointment of consul to 
Valparaiso, South America, and for some time dur- 
ing his residence in that country discharged the duties, 
not only of consul, but of minister to Chili, to fill a 
temporary vacancy in the ministership, and was rec- 
ognized as such minister by both governments. In 
1854 he resigned his consulship, returned home and 
devoted himself mainly to the cultivation and im-^ 



Il8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

provement of his beautiful farm in Rockport, known 
as "Evergreen Place." He died October i, 1864. 

Governor Wood was one of nature's noblemen, 
large-hearted and generous to a fault. Nature gave 
him a slim, tall figure, over six feet in height, and a 
head replete with brains and mother wit. He was 
quick in his perceptions, and could seldom, if ever, 
be entrapped or duped. He was an excellent clas- 
sical scholar, and could read Latin and Greek with 
about as much ease as English. He was a man of 
the people and honored by the people. As a lawyer 
he was not only prominent, but famous for his tact 
and shrewdness in defending criminals. In states- 
manship he exhibited an unusual degree of wisdom 
and forecast. On the bench he manifested a profound 
legal knowledge that commanded public confidence 
and secured the universal respect of the bar, and es- 
pecially of its younger members, to whom he would 
listen with deep interest when they were conducting 
a cause before him, and whenever he saw they felt 
embarrassed would aid them by timely suggestions. 
This encouraging condescension on his part was 
highly appreciated. His decisions while on the bench 
display a profound knowledge of law, and crown his 
life-work as one of the ablest jurists of the state. 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. II9 

JUDGE ANDREWS. 

Sherlock J. Andrews was born at Wallingford, 
Connectiout, November 17, 1801. He was liberally 
educated and graduated with honor at Union college 
in 1 82 1. He was an aspiring, bright young man, 
who had set his mark high with a determination to 
reach it. He chose the legal profession and perfected 
his studies at the law school in New Haven. He 
employed a part of his time while there in the service 
of the renowned Benjamin Silliman, as assistant pro- 
fessor of chemistry. At the close of his course he 
was admitted to the bar, and removed in 1825 to 
Cleveland, where he commenced the practice of law 
in connection with Samuel Cowles. Soon after this 
Mr. Cowles retired from professional life, and young 
Andrews formed a co-partnership with John A. 
Foot and James M. Hoyt, under the name of 
Andrews, Foot & Hoyt, a law firm which soon be- 
came celebrated and which maintained its celebrity 
for many years. Andrews was the gem of the firm, 
though the other members were regarded as able 
men. In 1840 Andrews was elected a representative 
to congress, but ill-health compelled him to decline 
a renomination. In 1848 he was elected j'udge of the 
superior court of Cleveland — a court of exclusive 
commercial and civil jurisdiction. In 1849 ^^ ^^^ 



120 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

chosen a member of the convention to revise the 
constitution of the state. In 1852 the Western Re- 
serve college conferred on him the honorary degree 
of doctor of laws. In 1873 he was chosen a member 
of the second convention called to revise the consti- 
tution, and was solicited to accept the presidency of 
the convention, but declined to be a candidate. In 
aiding to frame the two constitutions, though the last 
was not adopted, he rendered invaluable service. He 
continued in the practice of law until his death, 
which occurred at his home in Cleveland, February 
II, 1880. 

Judge Andrews was a man of pure principles and 
noble aspirations. He was endowed by nature with 
her choicest gifts — wit, humor and vivacity of spirit. 
He delighted in the comic, even amid the serious, 
and could readily illustrate any argument or senti- 
ment of his own or of others, with an effective anec- 
dote or witticism. He was a fine literary and scien- 
tific scholar, and carried in his head a complete di- 
gest of legal knowledge. He had a quick percep- 
tion, and could read human character at a glance. 
His style of eloquence was persuasive and somewhat 
impassioned. He could '' point a moral," or make 
a "point" tipped with a flash of electric wit that 
would convulse both court and jury. In this way 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. 121 

he often secured for his client a verdict when hardly 
expected. This was emphatically a magic power 
peculiar to himself. He was not only kind and 
courteous, but a gentleman in every sense of the 
word. At the bar he was a brilliant advocate, and 
on the bench a model judge. 

JUDGE RANNEY. 

Rufus P. Ranney was born at Blandford, Hampden 
county, Massachusetts, October 30, 181 3. He is 
of Scotch and French descent. His father removed 
with his family, in 1824, from Blandford to Freedom, 
Portage county, Ohio, then a town in the wilderness 
with only here and there a log cabin. Rufus was 
but a young lad at that time. He worked with his 
father six years in clearing the new farm. The ele- 
mentary education he had received was obtained in a 
common school. He now resolved to acquire for him- 
self a liberal education. His parents approved his de- 
termination, but were unable to furnish him with the 
requisite pecuniary means. But this did not dis- 
courage him. He felt that he could help himself. 
He began by chopping cordwood for a merchant at 
twenty-five cents a cord. With the avails he pur- 
chased the necessary text books, and commenced 
the study of the Latin and Greek languages with Dr. 



122 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

Bassett of Nelson. After completing his prepara- 
tory course of studies, he entered Western Reserve 
college, and supported himself by maruual labor and 
teaching school. In 1834 he left college, studied 
law two years and a half with Giddings & Wade of 
Ashtabula county, was admitted to the bar, and 
commenced practice at Warren, Trumbull county. 
In the winter of 1836, Mr. Giddings, having been 
elected to congress, withdrew from the firm of Gid- 
dings & Wade, Avhose office was established at Jeffer- 
son. Mr. Wade then invited Ranney to take the 
place of Giddings in the firm, under the name of 
Wade & Ranney. This new firm soon acquired a 
wide reputation and enjoyed a lucrative practice. 
Ranney continued with Wade for ten years. In the 
meantime he married a daughter of Judge Warner. 
She was an accomplished young lady. In 1845 he 
left Jefferson and returned to Warren, where he en- 
gaged in the practice of his profession. He soon be- 
came generally popiular both as a man and a lawyer. 
In political faith he was a Democrat of the Jeffer- 
sonian school. His personal popularity and his 
acknowledged abilities made him a strong man in 
the estimation of his democratic friends, who insisted 
on his accepting a nomination for congress, in 1842, 
in what was then known as the Ashtabula district. 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. I23 

After a change in the extent of districts, he was put 
in nomination for the same office in 1846, and, in 
1848, in the Trumbull district. He accepted these 
nominations as a matter of duty, and not with any 
expectation of success or desire of office, well know- 
ing that the opposing party was largely in the ascen- 
dency. In discussing the political questions of the 
day in the several campaigns, however, he exhibited 
a degree of eloquence and tact of logic that was as 
forcible as it was unanswerable by his competitors. 
His efforts proved the fact that if you convince a 
man against his will, especially in politics, he will 
remain of the ^'same opinion still." Yet, in 1850, 
Ranney was triumphantly elected from his district a 
member of the state convention for revising the 
constitution. The convention made him chairman 
of the judiciary committee. He was, in fact, one of 
the leading spirits, if not the Hercules of the con- 
vention. In 185 1 he was elected by the legislature 
a judge of the supreme court to fill a vacancy. The 
new constitution was adopted the same year, wlien 
he was elected by the people to the supreme bench 
by a majority of over forty thousand votes. In the 
winter of 1856 he resigned and settled in Cleveland, 
where he resumed the practice of law under the 
name of Ranney, Backus & Noble. At about the 



124 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

same time the President of the United States ap- 
pointed him district attorney for the northern district 
of Ohio — an office which he held for a few months 
and then resigned, for the reason that he found its 
duties required more attention than he could give in 
connection with his other more profitable law prac- 
tice. In 1859 the state Democratic convention put 
him in nomination for governor. The canvass Vv^as a 
spirited one, but the opposition won the victory by a 
small majority. He did all he could to avert the 
outbreak of the civil war, and, when the outbreak 
came, he devoted much of his time and talents in 
support of the Union. In 1862 his law partner, Mr. 
Backus, was nominated for judge of the supreme 
court by the Republican party. The Democratic 
party put Ranney in nomination for the same office. 
He declined, but the party continued his name on 
the state ticket, and he was elected. He accepted 
the position, but after a service of two years re- 
signed. He preferred the practice of law, because 
he found it quite as agreeable and much more remun- 
erative. In 1 87 1 the Western Reserve college be- 
stowed on him the honorary degree of doctor of 
laws. In 1876 he was chosen president of the 
board of managers who represented the interests of 
the state at the Philadelphia Centennial exposition. 



WESTERN RESERVE JURISTS. 1 25 

At the presidential election of 1880, he was nomi- 
nated a senatorial elector by the Democratic state 
convention, and failed of an election because the 
party ticket was defeated. In the same year he was 
chosen by a state convention of lawyers to the pres- 
idency of the Ohio State Bar association. His ad- 
dress to the bar at the close of his term of office was 
regarded as a masterpiece of true eloquence and 
sound logic. He is now president of the board of 
trustees of the Case School of Applied Science, which 
has an endowment of a miUIon and a half of dollars 
bequeathed to it by the late Leonard Case of Cleve- 
land. The trust is one of honor as well as of great 
responsibility. 

Judge Ranney is still devoted to the practice of 
law at Cleveland. He is eminent In his profession and 
enjoys the confidence of the public. He seems to 
have been born a logician. Whatever may be the 
complexity of a legal question submitted to him, he 
at once subjects it to the test of logic and solves it 
upon logical principles. When he has done this it 
is like a nail driven In a sure place and clinched. His 
mental powers are gigantic and cannot be measured 
with rule or plummet. In a great case, complex 
as it may be, he always proves himself equal to its 
clear exposition and logical solution. Yet he is 



126 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

modest, even to timidity, and does not seem to 
be conscious of his powers. He has all the qualities 
of a great statesman as well as jurist. As a politi- 
cian he is severely honest, and for the sake of office 
would not accept the presidency of the United States. 
He is one of the very few who never sought an 
office, yet has held many important offices. The 
offices he has held came to him without solicitation. 
In all of them he has acquitted himself with signal 
ability. As an advocate at the bar he is eloquent 
and forcible, and often rises to the sweeping majesty 
of a tidal wave. His law practice is chiefly con- 
fined to great cases, and is both lucrative and exten- 
sive. He is not only an adept in legal science, but 
is acquainted with the sciences generally as well as 
with classical and modern literature. He is familiar 
with the principles of the Justinian code and code 
Napoleon, and also with the leading decisions of the 
English and American courts. He can readily cite 
from memory the important legal authorities known 
to the profession, and is himself a legal authority. 
While on the bench of the supreme court he elevated 
the bench more than the bench elevated him. He 
has a dignified presence, and a moral character that 
is above reproach. In a word, he is a man who has 
ripened into a noble manhood. 



Footprints of Puritanism. 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 

The civilization of the Western Reserve, though 
comparatively of modern origin, is characterized by- 
peculiarities that have been inherited from a renowned 
ancestry. It is a civilization scarcely less peculiar in 
its elements than it is progressive in its instincts. It 
aims high and has already achieved high aims. It 
began its career a little less than a century ago by 
conquering the rude forces of nature and securing for 
itself a land of beauty, of wealth, and of social refine- 
ment. 

The spirit of enterprise that transformed within so 
short a period an unbroken wilderness into a land of 
refined civilization, must have been not only invin- 
cible, but a spirit that has rarely, if ever, been ex- 
celled in the annals of human advancement. This 
can only be accounted for on the basis of inherited 
traits of character. The civilized life of the Western 
Reserve has Puritanic blood in its veins, or, in other 



130 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

words, has a New England parentage. One age not 
only modifies another, but differs from another in its 
thought and in its aspirations as one star differs from 
another in its brilliancy and in its magnitude. 

Puritanism is of English origin. It was born of 
fanaticism — a fanaticism that believed in the right of 
free thought and of free action. The Puritan soon 
came to be a stubborn controversialist, and would 
neither submit to oppression nor brook persecution. 
The very name of " Puritanism " is significant. It 
was bestowed in derision by intolerant persecutors. 
Hence Puritanism in the land of its nativity found its 
environment unendurable, and, as a last resort, ex- 
patriated itself. Its subsequent footprints denote its 
civil and religious aims, its moral influence and the 
wide diffusion of its principles. 

The first colony of Puritans who expatriated them- 
selves and came to the new world, was the Plymouth 
colony, the veritable *' Pilgrim Fathers" of New 
England. They sailed from England in the ship 
Mayflower, one hundred and one souls, seventy of 
whom were women, children and servants. They 
were cradled on the deep, amid storms and tempests, 
for eight long, weary weeks ; yet, led by the " star of 
empire," they safely reached the "land of promise" 
in the bleak month of December, 1620, and cast 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 3 1 

anchor in the harbor of Cape Cod. This entire coast 
was, at that date, included in what was then known 
as Northern Virginia. Before disembarking, all the 
voyagers who were qualified to exercise political rights 
held a consultation, agreed upon and subscribed 
their names to the following compact : 

In the name of God, amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the 
loyal subjects of our dread Lord, King James, by the grace of God, of 
Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c., having un- 
dertaken, for the glor3'-of God and the advancement of the Christian faith 
and honor of our king and country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the 
northern part of Virginia, do, by these presents, solemnly and mutually, 
in the presence of God and onte another, covenant and combine ourselves 
together in a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation and 
furtherance of the ends aforesaid ; and by virtue hereof, do enact, consti- 
tute and frame such just and equal laws and ordinances, acts, constitutions 
and offices from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and conven- 
ient for the general good of the colony, unto which we promise all due sub- 
jection and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed 
our names, at Cape Cod, the nth day of November (old style), in the year 
of our Sovereign Lord, King James, ,of England, France and Ireland the 
eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620. 

This compact embraces in its elementary principles 
the true ideal of a pure democracy. It was this 
ocean-born utterance that subsequently inspired the 
declaration of American independence. After sign- 
ing the compact the small boat was lowered, when 
as many of the voyagers as could be received sprang 
into it, eager to reach the land. The question now 



132 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

arose as to which of them should have the honor of 
being the first to step on shore. The sterner sex — 
stern as they were — manifested their instinctive rev- 
erence for woman by according to Mary Chilton that 
honor. She was a bright, fascinating young lady, 
and the moment the boat reached the shore was the 
first to step on Plymouth Rock — 

' ' The rock that's firmly planted by the sea, 

Prescribing bounds where proudest waves are stayed ; 
The landmark which was set to liberty 

When earth's foundations broad and deep were laid." 

If the maiden did not leave her footprint upon the 
rock she has certainly left it in history. 

The Pilgrim Fathers were, in fact, the sons of 
destiny, who did not comprehend the moral grandeur 
of their destiny. On the basis of their compact they 
constructed a civil government for themselves, and 
recognized the right of the majority to rule by elect- 
ing one of their deacons, John Carver, for governor, 
and Miles Standish to serve as captain of their fight- 
ing force. They selected a high ground facing the 
bay for a town site, and divided the entire colony 
into nineteen families, composed of about five persons 
each. And though a vast continent lay before them, 
they were so economical of land as to allow each 
family a town lot, containing for each person in the 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 33 

family but a half pole in breadth and three poles in 
length, which was deemed sufficient for a house and 
garden. They first erected what they called a com- 
mon house, and then private dwellings. On the hill- 
side overlooking the infant town, in the direction of 
the bay, they planted a cannon for self-defence against 
the Indians. During the first winter fifty-five of the 
one hundred and one died for want of sufficient sup- 
plies, or from the effects of climate. But the remain- 
ing few, plucky in extremities, did not despair. 
They believed in God, in the efficacy of prayer, and 
especially in themselves. Their numbers were soon 
strengthened by immigration from their native land. 
They fought Indians and Indians fought them. Cap- 
tain Miles Standish proved him.self a valiant com- 
mander, and Plymouth colony proved a success. 
This led to the introduction of other Puritan colonies 
into the wilderness of New England, whose territory 
in the course of the next three or four decades was 
sprinkled with flourishing towns and settlements. 
All the colonies were founded upon a similar basis. 
In support of free principles they inaugurated free 
churches, free schools and free government. Yet 
they had some crotchets in their heads, peculiarities 
of creed and of opinion, which were the outgrowth 
of an elementary education obtained in England ; 



134 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

hence they could not divest themselves of what was 
a part of themselves. And though they saw the light 
as ''from above," yet at times they saw it as 
*' through a glass, darkly." There was not a village 
in all England, two or three centuries ago, that did 
not have a ghost in it. The churchyards were all 
haunted, and almost everybody believed in ghosts, 
fairies and witchcraft. Hundreds were convicted of 
witchcraft and executed. With such a preliminary 
education, it is not surprising that the Puritans of 
New England believed in witchcraft as well as in the 
purification of church and state. But instead of ad- 
hering to a form of civil government purely demo- 
cratic, as projected in their original compact, they 
unwittingly accepted a theocracy. The civil law 
was interpreted with reference to the divine law, and 
the clergy, of course, became its recognized ex- 
pounders. It was for this reason that the colonies 
were controlled by ecclesiastical influences in matters 
of state as well as in matters of faith. In effect, 
church and state were united ; the only difference 
was that the church controlled the state. No man 
was a freeman or citizen who had not united with the 
church, nor could he vote or hold office until he had 
proved his sincerity as a Christian by what was called 
in those days, * * a godly walk and conversation. " This 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 35 

over-righteous morality of the Puritans was charac- 
terized by a frosty rigidity that would be regarded as 
quite too chilling to be endured in these modern 
days of relaxed discipline and liberality of thought. 
But still it must be conceded that the Puritans 
were sincere in their aspirations and philanthropic in 
many of their endeavors. They sought to Christian- 
ize the Indians and to inaugurate among them a 
system of civil government. There were twenty 
small tribes located within the limits of the Plymouth 
colony. These tribes all spoke the same language. 
Rev. John Eliot took the lead in attempting their 
reclamation by establishing schools and churches in 
tlieir midst and translating the Bible into their 
tongue. The following is the title which he prefixed 
to his Indtan Bible: **Mamusse Wunneetupana- 
tamwe Up-Biblum God Naneeswe Nukkone Testa- 
ment Kah Wonk Wusku Testament." He was 
master of the language, and said he wrote the trans- 
lation with one pen. He afterwards wrote an Indian 
grammar and other Indian school books, and trans- 
lated ' Baxter's Last Call ' into the same language. 
This Indian Bible was a ponderous folio, and the first 
Bible ever printed in America. It was printed at 
Boston in 1685, at a cost for the edition of ;^900 
sterHng. A copy of it is still preserved at Ply- 



136 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

mouth. It is regarded as a great curiosity. There is 
not now a living Indian or white man who can read 
it. The language in which it was written is literally 
dead. Rev. John Eliot was the first Protestant clergy- 
man in America who devoted his life to missionary 
labor. He is deservedly known in history as the 
''Indian Apostle." He insisted that the Indians 
were descendants of the Jews. He was born in 
England in 1603, was liberally educated, arrived at 
Boston in 163 1, officiated at Roxbury for a brief 
period as minister of the gospel, and then devoted 
the remaining part of his life to Indian misslonar). 
work. He died in 1690. 

These Christianized Indians at baptism received 
English names, many of which were names of distin- 
guished Englishmen. This pleased the Indians and 
elevated them, in their own estimation, to the grade 
of white men. In fact they were regarded by the 
Puritans not only as brethren of the same faith, but 
as citizens entitled to share the same equal rights and 
privileges. In the administration of civil government 
these Indians excelled the white men in brevity and 
prompt execution, if not in originality, as will be 
readily seen in the language of the following "war- 
rant," issued and directed by an Indian magistrate 
to an Indian constable : 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 37 

I, Hihoudi, you, Peter Waterman, Jeremy Wicket, quick you take him, 
straight you bring him before me. Hihoudi. 

The Puritans were the friends of the Indians in 
times of peace, but in times of war were evidently 
actuated by a vindictive spirit. Such of the Indians 
as they could not Christianize they did not hesitate 
to exterminate, especially when they assumed a hos- 
tile attitude toward the colonies. In the course of 
the first century after the knding of the Pilgrim 
Fathers, thousands upon thousands of the original 
proprietors of the soil of New England fell in battle 
array against their relentless Christian invaders. 
Whether one race is justified in exterminating 
another for no better reason than that of acquiring a 
broader domain, is a great moral question which 
must be submitted to the arbitrament of theology 
for solution. 

In tracing the footprints of the Puritans, we cannot 
escape the conviction that they were as conscientious 
as they were absurd in many of their theories. They 
believed in witchcraft and resolved to exterminate 
it, nor would they tolerate a religious faith that was 
not in accord with their own. The history of their 
times, like the sun, has some dark spots in it. The 
darkest spot is their persecution of Quakers and exe- 
cution of innocent persons for witchcraft. Cotton 



138 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

Mather, a doctor of divinity, was the prin&ipal insti- 
gator. But when the fanatical spirit of the times 
became so intrusive as to accuse and execute a mem- 
ber of the clerical profession for witchcraft, he 
changed his views and the tragic drama soon closed. 
The Puritans seemed to think that they were divinely 
commissioned to exterminate not only heresies, but 
all kinds of frivolities and immoralities, and to estab- 
lish in the new world a saintly government based on 
the principles of a pure theocracy. This ideal of 
theirs is sufficiently illustrated in a few examples 
taken from the early records of the colonial courts: 

GENERAL COURT OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

1639. Ordered that no garments shall be made with short sleeves, and 
such as have garments vi'ith short sleeves shall not wear the same, unless 
they cover the arms to the wrist ; and hereafter no person whatever shall 
make any garment for women with sleeves more than an ell wide. 

COURT HELD AT PLYMOUTH. 

1638. It is ordered that if any man make a motion of marriage to any 
man's daughter or maid without first obtaining leave of her parents or 
master, he shall be punished, according to the nature of the offence, by a 
fine not exceeding five pounds, or corporal punishment, or both, at the 
discretion of the bench. 

Ordered that profane swearing shall be punished by sitting in the stocks 
three hours, or by imprisonment; and that telling lies shall be punished by 
a fine of ten shillings, or the stocks for two hours for each offence. 

Ordered that any person denying the Scriptures to be a rule of life shall 
suffer corporal punishment at the discretion of the magistrates, so it shall 
not extend to life or limb. 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 39 

1640. Ordered that John Barnes pay a fine of thirty shillings for Sab- 
bath breaking and sit one hour in the stocks ; that Thomas Clarke pay a 
fine of thirty shinfngs for selling a pair of boots and spurs for fifteen 
shillings, which only cost him but ten shiUings; and that William Abbey 
be severely whipped at the post for working on Sunday. 

COURT HELD AT. NEW HAVEN. 

1639. It is ordered thatt evwy one thatt beares arms shall be com- 
pleatly furnished with armes, (viz) a muskett, a sword, vandaleers, a rest, a 
pound of powder, 20 bullets fitted to their muskett, or 4 pound of pistoll 
shott, or swan shott, at lea'st, and be ready to show them in the market 
place on Monday the 6th of this moneth, before Captaine Turner and 
Lieutenant Seeley, under 20^ fine for every default or absence. 

1643. Andrew Low, jun. for breaking into Mr. Lang's house, where he 
brake open a cupboard and took from thence some strong water, and 6d. 
in money, and ransackt the house from roome to roome, and left open 
doors, for which fact being committed to prison brake forth and escaped, 
and still remains horrible obstinate and rebellious against his parents, and 
incorrigible under all the means that have been used to reclaim him. 
Whereupon it was ordered that he shall be as severely whipt as the rule 
will bare, and wprk with his father as a prisoner with a lock upon his leg 
so that he may not escape. 

John Lawrence and Valentine, servants to Mr. Malbon, for Imbezilling 
their masters Goods, and keeping disorderly night Meetings with Will 
Harding, a Lewd and disorderly person, plotting with him to carry their 
masters' daughters to the farmes in the night, concealing divers unseemly 
dalliances, all of which they confessed and was whipt. 

1660. Jacob M. Murline and Sarah Tuttle appeared, concerning whom 
the Governor declared, that the business for which they were warned to 
this court he had heard in private at his house, which he related to stand 
thus : 

On the day that John Potter was married Sarah Tuttle went to Mistress 
Murline's house for some thredd. Mistress Murline bid her go to her 
daughters in the other roome, where they felle into speeche of John Potter 



140 SKETCHES OF V7ESTERN LIFE. 

and his wife, that they were both lame, upon which Sarah Tuttle said that 
she wondered what they would do at night. Whereupon Jacob came in, 
and tooke up or tooke away her gloves. Sarah desired him to give her the 
gloves, to which he answered he would do so if she would give him a 
kysse, upon which they sat down together, his arme being about her 
waiste, and her arme upon his shoulder or about his necke, and he kyssed 
her and she kyssed him, or they kyssed one another, continuing in this 
posture about half an hour, as Marian and Susan testified, which Marian, 
now in court, affirmed to be so. Mistress Murline, now in court, said that 
she heard Sarah say she wondered what they would do at night, and she 
replied they must sleep; but it was matter of sorrow and shame unto her. 

Jacob was asked what he had to say to these things, to which he 
answered that he was in the other roome, and when he heard Sarah speak 
those words, he went in, and when she having let fall her gloves he tooke 
them up and she asked him for them, he told her he would if she would 
kysse him. Further said he tooke her by the hand, and they both sat down 
upon a chest, but v/hether his arme were about her waiste, and her arme 
upon his shoulder or about his necke, he knows not, for he never thought 
of it since, till Mr. Raymond told him of ii at Manatos for which he was 
blamed and told he layde it to heart as he ought. But Sarah Tuttle 
replied that she did not kysse him. Mr. Tuttle replied that Marian 
denied it, and he doth not looke upon her as a competent witness. Thomas 
Tuttle said that he asked Marian if his sister kyssed Jacob, and she said 
not. Moses Mansfield testified that he told Jacob Murline that he heard 
Sarah kyssed him, but he denied it. But Jacob graunted not what Moses 
testified. 

Mr. Tuttle pleaded that Jacob had endeavoured to steal away his daugh- 
ter's affections. But Sarah being asked if Jacob had inveagled her, she 
said no. Thomas Tuttle said that he came to their house two or three 
times before he went to Holland, and they two were together, and to what 
end he came he knows not, unless it were to inveagle her. And their 
mother warned Sarah not to keep company with him. And to the same 
purpose spake Jonathan Tuttle. But Jacob denied that he came to their 
house with any such intendment, nor did it appeare so to the court. 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. I4I 

The Governor told Sarah that her miscarriage is the greatest, that a vir- 
gin should be so bold in the presence of others to carry it as she had done, 
and to speak such corrupt words, most of the things charged against her 
be acknowledged by herself, though that about kyssing is denied, yet the 
thing is prooved. Sarah professed that she was sorry that she carried it 
so sinfully and foolishly, which she saw to be hateful. She hoped God 
would help her to carry it better for time to come. 

The Governor also told Jacob that his carriage hath been very evil and 
sinful so to carry it towards her, and to make such a light matter of it as 
not to think of it, (as he exprest,) doth greatly aggravate, and for Marian, 
who was a married woman, to suffer her brother and a man's daughter, to 
sit almost half an hour in such a way as they have related was a very 
great evil. She was told that she should have showed her indignation 
against it, and have told her mother, that Sarah might have been shut out 
of doors. Mrs. Murline was told that she, hearing such words, should not 
have suffered it. Mrs. Tuttle and Mrs. Murline being asked if they had 
any more to say, they said no. 

Whereupon the court declared that we have heard in the Publique 
Ministry, that it is a thing to be lamented, that young people should have 
their meetings to the corrupting of themselves and one another. As for 
Sarah Tuttle her miscarriages are very great, that she should utter so cor- 
rupt a speeche as she did concerning the persons to be married, and that 
she should carry it in such a wanton, uncivil, immodest and lascivious man- 
ner as has been proved. And for Jacob his carriage hath been very corrupt 
and sinful, such as brings reproach upon the family and pladfe. 

The sentence therefore concerning them is that they shall pay either of 
them as a fine 20s. to the Treasurer. 

1662. Edmund Dorman, plaintiff, entered an action of slander; or 
defamation, against Jeremiah Johnson, defendant. The plaintiff informed 
against him that he had heard that J. Johnson had reported at John 
Olvarde's house that he heard Dorman at prayer in a swamp for a wife, 
and being asked by John Olvarde who the person was, he answered that it 
was his mare. And there was other circumstances of scoffing &c. 

The defendant v.-as asked whether he graunted the thing or denied. The 



142 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

defendant desired proof and that the witnesses might speeke apart. John 
Olvarde was first called, who tested that Johnson being at his house, he 
heard him say that he heard Edmund Dorman at prayer in a swamp, (by 
John Downes's,) for a wife ; and sayde, "Lord thou knowest my neces- 
sitie and canst supplie it. Lord bend and bow her wille and make her 
sensible of my condition or necessitie." He asked Jeremiah who it was ; 
he answered it may be his mare that she might be servi cable. John Olvarde 
being asked when it was, he said it was since harvest. 

Stephen Bradley being called also testified the same thing. The defen- 
dant being asked what he had to say for himself, said he thought Bradley 
did it out of revenge. But he was told he must prove him a false person 
upon the record, or perjured, or that he doth it out of revenge this time. 
The defendant further saiid he did expect some other persons that was 
present at John Olvarde' s ■vwould have been here, therefore did refuse to 
make his defense further this time ; and desired that the witnesses might 
not be sworn. 

Then Jeremiah was told that it is a fearful thing to come to that height 
of sin, as to sit in the seat of the scorner. Therefore the court told him 
they would defer this business, and warned him to attend the next partic- 
ular court to give answer hereunto. 

Most of the early colonial courts consisted of the 
governor and one or more assistants elected by the 
people. The general court consisted of representa- 
tives from the local courts. The governor or some 
of the subordinate dignataries conducted the exami- 
nation of witnesses. If there were lawyers in those 
days, they were but very few. Public sentiment was 
not inclined to tolerate them, owing to the scriptural 
denunciation, '* Wo unto the lawyers." The clergy 
were the great men of the times. They increased 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. 1 43 

their influence by assuming an air of gravity and dig- 
nity that seemed to overawe everyone, especially 
children, who felt when in their presence that they 
were in the divine presence. The people generally 
believed in them and revered them. They even be- 
lieved that clerical prayers could control or modify 
the action of divine Providence. Hence the clergy 
were often asked in dry weather to pray for rain, and 
in wet weather to pray for sunshine. Many of them, 
it is said, were sufficiently weatherwise not to do 
either unless the ^' signs in the heavens " indicated a 
favorable response to their prayers. 

The first union of the colonies took place in 1643, 
with a view to self-protection and defence. It was 
this inceptive idea of what constituted a central gov- 
ernment that led to the confederacy of the colonies 
and the subsequent union of all the American states. 
As the Puritans grew in numbers they grew in wis- 
dom. Their towers of strength were the church and 
school-house. Thus fortified they fought the battle 
of life with triumphant results. One of the colonies 
hid its charter of civil rights in the heart of an oak 
to preserve it, and did preserve it. Another cast rich 
freights of tea into the ocean rather than pay to 
royalty unreasonable exactions. The stamp act was 
treated with universal contempt by all the colonies. 



144 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

All were agreed in the patriotic sentiment, " millions for 
liberty, nothing for tribute." It was this state of 
public feeling that awoke the spirit of '* seventy-six " 
— a patriotic flame that purified, as by fire, the land 
of golden promise from the dross of regal domi- 
nation. 

Though Puritanism has now outgrown most of its 
primitive peculiarities, yet many of its traits, like 
golden threads, are still apparent, not only in the 
texture of New England character but in the finish of 
Western Reserve character. It is this finishing touch 
that has given to Western Reserve life a moral power 
that wields a positive influence in the affairs of both 
church and state. It is a power, however, that 
"vaunteth not itself" The birth of the Western 
Reserve as a civilized land, occurred July 4, 1796, 
the day on which General Moses Cleaveland, with 
his company of surveyors, landed at Conneaut. Her 
territory is comparatively but a fraction of the great 
state of Ohio, and is located in the northeastern part 
of the state. It embraces but twelve counties, yet it 
has a population, at this time, 'of nearly six hundred 
thousand. 

The truth is, the Western Reserve, in more senses 
than one, has achieved a brilliant career, and still as- 
pires to a brilliant future. She can point, like the 



FOOTPRINTS OF PURITANISM. I45 

Roman matron, with a just pride to her jewels — her 
many accomplished men and still more accomplished 
women. She has furnished the state, in the course 
of her career, with five governors and thirteen su- 
preme judges, and the United States with four sena- 
tors and one President, to say nothing of several 
United States district judges and foreign ministers. 
She loves progress, and has literally begemmed her 
entire domain with school-houses, churches and col- 
leges. She believes in the rights of man and in her- 
self, and takes nothing for granted. She is as cau- 
tious as she is inquisitive, and never accepts novel 
theories, either in science or in morals, without first 
subjecting them to an uncompromising scrutiny, 
however attractive may be the drapery in which they 
are presented ; nor does she hesitate to assail sancti- 
fied errors simply because they are sanctified. And 
though she reveres her ancestry, she never allows the 
Puritanic element she has inherited to misguide her 
judgment in matters of faith or in freedom of action. 
In a word, she has acquired a character of her own 
that is as remarkable for its noble traits as it is for its 
originaHty — a character that is founded upon the 
broad principles of a dispassionate Christian philos- 
ophy. 



Woman and her Sphere. 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 

Woman, like a flower, sprang to life in a garden 
of flowers — sprang from the side of her lord, and 
took her place at his side, as a meet companion to 
share his earth-life, his joys, and his sorrows. 

The Greeks believed that the gods collected every 
thing that is beautiful in nature, out of which they 
formed the first woman, and, having crowned her 
brow with sunshine, entrusted her with the irresist- 
ible power of fascination. 

It is certainly not less pleasant than natural to be- 
lieve that woman was made of a more refined mate- 
rial than man ; and it is doubtless true that every 
sincere worshiper of the beautiful delights to regard 
the "angel of his dreams " not only as an incarna- 
tion of all that is lovable, but as a divine spirituality 
— a vision from a brighter and holier sphere. An 
old writer remarks that, in order to make an entirely 
beautiful woman, it would be necessary to take tht 
head from Greece, the bust from Austria, the feet 



150 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

from Hindostan, the shoulders from Italy, the walk 
from Spain, and the complexion from England. At 
that rate she would be a mosaic in her composition, 
and the man who married her might well be said to 
have " taken up a collection." 

However mystical may be the origin of woman, it 
is certain that we should look to the moral beauty 
of her life, rather than to her personal charms, in 
estimating the true value of her character. In her 
nature, woman is a loyalist — loyal to man and loyal 
to God. In all ages of the world, in all countries 
and under all circumstances, she has ever been dis- 
tinguished for her patience, her fortitude and her for- 
bearance, as well as for those still higher and diviner 
attributes, her love and her devotion. 

Endowed with charms which give her the power 
of conquest, woman ever delights in making con- 
quests ; and, though she may som.etimes ''stoop to 
conquer," she never fails to elevate the conquered. 
With the smile of love resting on her brow, she 
aims to fulfill her mission by scattering flowers along 
the pathway of life, and inspiring the sterner sex 
with reverence for her virtues and for the angelhood 
of her nature. 

The true woman exhibits a true womanhood in all 
she does, in all she says — in her heart-life and in her 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I5I 

world-life. Her love once bestowed on him who is 
worthy of it, increases with her years and becomes 
as enduring as her life — 

" In death, a deathless flame." 

Not only in the sincerity of her love, but in all her 
sympathies, in her quick sense of duty, and in her 
devotion to all that is good, right and just, she dis- 
closes without being conscious of it the divinity of 
her character. 

It is in sacred history that we find the earliest 
record of woman's virtues, acquirements and achieve- 
ments. It is there that we read of women who 
were not only distinguished for their exalted piety 
and exemplary habits of life, but who often excelled 
even the great men of renown in sagacity of purpose 
and in the exercise of sceptred power. It is in sa- 
cred history that we have the earhest account of the 
social and domestic relations of the human family, 
the most prominent of which is the institution of 
marriage. 

The first marriage of which we have any account 
took place in a garden, without the usual prelimi- 
naries and ceremonies which have marked its solem- 
nization in subsequent periods of the world's history ; 
yet we must believe that it was the most august and 
sublime wedding that ever occurred. The witnesses 



152 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

of the ceremony were none other than the angels of 
God. Nature presented her choicest flowers, and the 
birds of Paradise sang the bridal hymn, while earth 
and sky rejoiced in the consummation of the ''first 
match made in heaven." 

It may be presumed, perhaps, that all matches are 
made in heaven ; yet, somehow or other, sad mis- 
takes occur when least expected. Even our first 
parents, though placed in a garden of innocence, 
encountered a serpent in their pathway. It need 
not seem very strange, therefore, that the "course 
of true love never did run smooth." Yet there are 
but few who would not concur with Tennyson in 
thinking — 

" 'Tis better to have loved and lost, 
Than never to have loved at all. " 

In affairs of the heart there is no such thing as 
accounting for the freaks of fancy or the choice of 
dissimilar tastes. Singular as it may be, most peo- 
ple admire contrasts. In other words, like prefers 
unlike ; the tall prefer the short ; the beautiful the 
unbeautiful ; and the perverse the reverse. In this 
way Nature makes up her counterparts with a view 
to assimilate her materials and bring harmony out of 
discord. It is from accords and discords that we 
judge of music and determine its degree of excel- 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 53 

lence. In wedded life even discords have their uses ; 
since a family jar now and then is often attended 
with the happiest results, by bringing into timely 
exercise a higher degree of mutual forbearance, and 
inspiring the heart with a purer, sincerer and diviner 
appreciation of the "silken tie." 

There is no topic, perhaps, of deeper interest to a 
woman than that of wedlock. It is an event, when 
it does occur, which brightens or blasts forever her 
fondest hopes and her purest affections. The matri- 
monial question is, therefore, the great question of 
a woman's life. In deciding it, she takes a risk 
which determines the future of her heart-life. When 
the motive is stamped with the imperial seal of 
Heaven, it is certain the heart will recognize it as 
genuine and trust in it. The language of love speaks 
for itself, sometimes in mysteries, sometimes in reve- 
lations. It is a telegraphic language which every 
woman understands, though written in hieroglyphics. 
Hence the preliminaries to wedlock, usually called 
courtships, are as various in their methods as the 
whims of the parties. In many parts of the world 
these methods are as amusing as they are singular. 

In royal families matrimonial alliances are con- 
trolled by state policy, and the negotiations con- 
ducted through the agencies of ministerial confidants^ 



154 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

In some Oriental countries, parents contract their 
sons and daughters in marriage while yet in their in- 
fancy, nor allow the parties an interview until of 
marriageable age, when the wedding ceremonies are 
performed, and the happy pair unveiled to behold 
each other for the first time. At such a moment "a 
penny for their thoughts" would be cheap enough. 
The philosophy of this absurd custom seems to be 
based on the classical idea that **love is blind." 
This may be true ; yet blind though it be, the heart 
will always have its preference, and contrive some 
way or other to express it. 

In some of the Molucca islands, when a young 
man is too bashful to speak his love, he seizes the 
first opportunity that offers of sitting near the object 
of his affection, and tying his garments to hers. If 
she allows him to finish the knot, and neither cuts 
nor loosens it, she truly gives her consent to the 
marriage. If she merely loosens it, he is at liberty 
to try his luck again at a more propitious moment. 
But, if she cuts the knot, there is an end of hope. 

In Lapland it is death to marry a girl without the 
consent of her friends. When a young man propo- 
ses marriage, the friends of both parties meet to wit- 
ness a race between them. The girl is allowed, at 
starting, the advantage of a third part of the race; 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I 55 

if her lover does not overtake her, it is a penal of- 
fence for him ever to renew his offers of marriage. 
If the damsel favors his suit, she may run fast at first, 
to try his affection; but she will be sure to linger be- 
fore she comes to the end of the race. In this way 
all marriages are made in accordance with inclination ; 
and this is the probable reason of so much domestic ■ 
contentment in that country. 

In ancient times marriageable women were the 
subjects of bargain and sale, and were more gener- 
ally obtained by purchase than courtship. The 
prices paid in some instances seem incredible, if not 
extortionate. Of course, **pearls of great price" 
were not to be had for the mere asking. Jacob pur- 
chased his wife, Rachel, at a cost of fourteen years* 
hard labor. 

The Babylonians, who were a practical people, 
gathered their marriageable daughters once a year, 
from every district of their country, and sold them at 
auction to bachelors, who purchased them for wives, 
while the magistrates presided at the sales. The 
sums of money thus received for the beautiful girls 
were appropriated as doweries for the benefit of the 
less beautiful. Of course rich bachelors paid liberal 
prices for their choice, while poor bachelors, in ac- 
cepting the less beautiful, generally obtained the best 



156 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

wives, with the addition of a handsome sum of money. 
In this way all parties were accommodated who 
aspired to matrimonial felicity. 

But in these modern times most of our young men 
instead of purchasing their wives, prefer to sell them 
selves at the highest price the market affords. For 
tune hunting is, therefore, regarded as legitimate 
In the mind of a fast young man wealth has a magi 
cal influence, which is sure to invest the possessor, 
if a marriageable young lady, however unattractive 
with irresistible charms. If his preliminary inquiry 
" Is she rich ? " be ansv/ered in the affirmative, the siege 
commences at once. Art is so practiced as to con- 
ceal art, and create, if possible, a favorable impres- 
sion. An introduction is sought and obtained. In- 
terview follows interview in quick succession. The 
declaration is made ; the diamond ring presented 
and graciously accepted ; consent obtained, and the 
happy day set. Rumor reports an eligible match in 
high life, and the fashionable world is on tiptoe with 
expectation. 

But instead of its being an ''affair of the heart," it 
is really a very different affair — nothing but a hasty 
transaction in fancy stocks. And if the officiating 
clergyman were to employ an appropriate formula 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 57 

of words in celebrating the nuptials, he would address 
the parties thus : 

** Romeo, wilt thou have this delicate constitution, 
this bundle of silks and satins, this crock of gold for 
thy wedded wife?" — ''I will." ''Juliet, wilt thou 
have this false pretence, this profligate in broadcloth, 
this unpaid tailor's bill, for thy wedded husband?" 
— *'I will. 

The happy pair are then pronounced man and wife. 
And what is the result ? A brief career of dissipa- 
tion, a splendid misery, a reduction to poverty, 
domestic dissension, separation, and finally a divorce. 
But how different is the result when an honest man, 
actuated by pure motives, marries a sincere woman, 
whose only wealth consists in her love and in her 
practical good sense. 

It is man who degrades woman ; not woman who 
degrades man. Asiatic monarchs have ever regarded 
woman, not as a companion, but as a toy, a picture, 
a luxury of the palace ; while men of common rank 
throughout Asia, and in many parts of Europe, 
treat her as a slave, a drudge, a "hewer of wood 
and a drawer of water," and make it her duty to 
v/ait, instead of being waited on ; to attend, instead 
of being attended. Out of this sordid idea of 
woman's destiny has grown, in all probability, the 



158 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

custom of regarding her as property. Influenced by 
this idea, there are still some persons to be found 
among the lower classes, even in our own country, 
who do not hesitate to sell, buy, or exchange their 
wives for a material consideration. Someof our Ameri- 
can forefathers, in the early settlement of Jamestown, 
purchased their wives from England, and paid in 
tobbaco, at the rate of one hundred and fifty pounds 
each, and thought it a fair transaction. Perhaps this 
is the reason why ladies are so generally disgusted 
with the use of the *' Virginia weed." 

But the doctrine that woman was created the in- 
ferior of man, though venerable for its antiquity, is 
not less fallacious than venerable. It is simply an 
assertion which does not appear to be sustained 
by historical facts. It is true that woman is called in 
Scripture the " weaker vessel :" weaker in physical 
strength she may be, but it does not follow that she 
is weaker in mind, wit, judgement, shrewdness, tact 
or moral power. 

The sterner sex need not flatter themselves, there- 
fore, that superiority of muscle necessarily implies 
superiority of mind. History sufflciently discloses 
the fact that woman has often proved herself not only 
a match, but an over-match for man, in wielding the 
sceptre, the sword and the pen, to say nothing of the 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 59 

tongue. Illustrations of this great fact, Jike corusca- 
tions of light, sparkle along the darkened track of 
the ages, and abound in the living present. 

But, in looking into the broad expanse of the his- 
torical past, we cannot attempt to do more than 
glance here and there at a particular star, whose un- 
diminished lustre has given it a name and a fame, not 
only glorious but immortal. As in all ages there 
have been representative men, so in all ages there 
have been representative women, who crowned the 
age in which they hved with honor, and gave tone to 
its sentiment and character. 

In the career of Semiramis, who lived about two 
thousand years before the Christian era, we have a 
crystallization of those subtle attributes of female 
character, which are not less remarkable for their 
diversity than extensive in their power and influence. 
It will be remembered that she was the reputed child 
of a goddess, a foundling exposed in a desert, fed 
for a year by doves, discovered by a shepherd, and 
adopted by him as his own daughter. When grown 
to womanhood, she married the governor of Nine- 
vah, and assisted him in the siege and conquest of 
Bactria. The wisdom and tact which she manifested 
in this enterprise, and especially her personal beauty, 
attracted the attention of the king of Assyria, who 



l60 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

mysteriously relieved her of her husband, obtained 
her hand in wedlock, resigned to her his crown, and 
declared her queen and sole empress of Assyria. 
The aspirations of Semiramis became at once un- 
bounded; and, fearing her royal consort might re- 
pent the hasty step he had taken, she abruptly extin- 
guished his life and soon succeeded in distinguishing 
her own. She levelled mountains, filled up valleys, 
built aqueducts, commanded armies, conquered neigh- 
boring nations, penetrated into Arabia and Ethiopia, 
amassed vast treasures, founded many cities; and, 
wherever she appeared, spread terror and consterna- 
tion. Under her auspices and by means of her 
wealth, Babylon, the capital of her empire, became 
the most renowned and magnificent city in the world. 
Her might was invincible ; her right she regarded as 
co-extensive with her power. Her prompt action 
was the secret of her success. 

When she was Informed, on one occasion, that 
Babylon had revolted, she left her toilette half-made, 
put herself at the head of an armed force, and In- 
stantly quelled the revolt. She was a woman of 
strong passions and of strong mind, and, what is now 
very uncommon, of strong nerves. And yet her 
peerless beauty and the fascination of her manners 
appear to have been as irresistible as the sway of her 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. l6l 

sceptre. The fatality of her personal charms, her 
inordinate love of power, and the evils which arise 
from the indulgence of vain aspirations, indicate the 
lessons which are taught by her career. In the 
twenty-fifth year of her reign, her life was suddenly 
terminated by the violent hand of her own son. 
After death she was transformed, as it was believed, 
into a dove, under the symbol of which she received 
divine honors throughout Assyria. 

It would seem that literary women were not less 
unknown in ancient times than at the present day. 
Sappho took her place in the galaxy of literary fame 
six hundred years before Christ. So sublime, and 
yet so sweet, were her lyric strains, that the Greeks 
pronounced her the tenth Muse. Longinus cites 
from her writings specimens of the sublime, and 
extols her genius as unrivalled. Beneficent as tal- 
ented, she instituted an academy of music for young 
maidens ; wrote nine books of lyric verse and many 
other compositions of great merit. But of all her 
writings, however, only one or two of her odes have 
survived. Her fate was an unhappy one. She be- 
came violently enamored of a young man of Mity- 
lene, who was so ungallant as not to reciprocate her 
attachment; and, being reduced to a state of hope- 
less despair, she precipitated herself into the sea 



1 62 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

from the steep cliff of Leucate, ever since called the 
"Lover's Leap." 

In this connection we ought not to omit the name 
of Aspasia, who, at a period two centuries later than 
Sappho, emerged like a star in a darkened sky and 
charmed the age in which she lived with the fascina- 
tions of her rhetoric. She was not less stately and 
queen-like in her person than accomplished in her 
manners. It is said of her, that she possessed rhe- 
torical powers which were unequalled by the public 
orators of her time. She was as learned as eloquent. 
Plato says she was the instructress of Socrates. She 
also instructed Pericles in the arts of oratory, and 
afterwards married him. He was largely indebted 
to her for his finish of education and elegance of 
manners, for which he was so much distinguished. 

So charming were Aspasia's conversational powers 
that the Athenians sought every opportunity to in- 
troduce their wives into her presence, that they 
might learn from her the art of employing an elegant 
diction. On one occasion when the Athenian army 
had been disheartened, she appeared in the public 
assembly of the people and pronounced an oration, 
which so thrilled their breasts as to inspire new hopes 
and induce them to rally and redeem their cause. 

Among female sovereigns but few have evinced 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 63' 

more tact or talent in an emergency than Zenobia, 
queen of Palmyra. She was a native of Syria, a de- 
scendant of Ptolemy; married Odenatus, a Saracen, 
and after his death succeeded to the throne, about 
the year of our Lord 267. She had been highly 
educated ; wrote and spoke many different languages ; 
had studied the beauties of Homer and Plato under 
the tuition of Longinns, and was not less renowned 
for her beauty, melody of voice and elegance of 
manners, than for her heroic deeds. In the five 
years of her reign she conducted many warlike expe- 
ditions, extended her empire, compelling Cappadocia, 
Bithynia and Egypt to recognize her authority, and 
acknowledge her " Queen of the East," — a favorite 
title which she had assumed. Her power had now 
become so extended as to alarm the Roman govern- 
ment for their own safety, who sent Aurelian with a 
formidable army to subjugate and reduce her empire 
to a province. Zenobia, after being defeated in two 
severe battles, retired with her forces to Palmyra, 
her capital, fortified it and resolved never to sur- 
render. Aurelian invested the city with his entire 
army, and in the course of the siege was severely 
wounded by an arrow ; and being thus disabled, the 
progress of the siege was so far retarded as to give 
the citizens of Rome occasion to utter against him 



164 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

bitter invectives, and to question the character of 
the ** arrow" that had pierced him. In other words, 
they accused him of compHcity. In his letter of 
self-justification to the senate, he says, ''The Roman 
people speak with contempt of the war I am waging 
against a woman. They are ignorant of the charac- 
ter and the power of Zenobia. It is impossible to 
enumerate her warlike preparations of stones and 
arrows, and every species of missile weapons. The 
walls of the city are strongly guarded, and artificial 
fires are thrown from her military engines. The 
fear of punishment has armed her with desperate 
courage. Still I trust in the gods for a favorable 
result." 

In this letter the stern and proud Roman general 
frankly admits the might of woman. FeeHng humil- 
iated and almost despairing of success, he now 
attempted to procure a surrender of the city by ne- 
gotiation, and offered the most liberal advantages to 
the queen. In her reply she said to him, *' It is not 
by negotiation but by arms that the submission you 
require of me can be obtained." This laconic reply 
was certainly worthy of a heroine and a queen. Yet 
after a protracted and desperate defence, and finding 
that her allies, instead of coming to her relief as they 
promised, had accepted bribes from the enemy to 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 65 

remain at a distance, she saw that all was lost, and 
mounting her fleetest dromedary, sought to escape 
into Persia, but was overtaken on the banks of the 
Euphrates and captured. When brought into the 
presence of her conqueror, and asked how she dared 
resist the power of Rome, she replied, ** Because I 
recognize Aurelian alone as my sovereign," 

Zenobia was sent to Rome to grace the triumph 
of Aurelian. She entered the city on foot, preceeded 
by her own chariot, with which she had designed, 
in the event of having won the victory, to make her 
grand entry into Rome as the triumphant '' Queen 
of the East." But the fortunes of war subverted her 
ambitious scheme, and subjected her to the mortifi- 
cation of gracing a Roman triumph. Yet for this 
indignity she felt that she was somewhat compen- 
sated in knowing that her appearance in Rome 
would create a sensation. In the grand procession 
she followed her chariot, so laden with jewels and 
chains of gold as to require the support of a slave to 
prevent her from fainting beneath the weight. 

After enjoying the satisfaction of a triumph Aurel- 
ian treated his beautiful captive with kind consider- 
ation, and provided for her a delightful residence on 
the banks of the Tiber, where she passed the remain- 
der of her days, honored by all as a matron of rare 



1 66 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

virtue and accomplishments. She Hved to educate 
her daughters, and to see them contract noble alli- 
ances. Her descendants were ranked among the 
first citizens of Rome, and did not become extinct 
until after the fifth century. 

Near the commencement of the fifteenth century, 
there appeared in France a brilliant meteor — a 
youthful maiden, whose development of character 
was as mystical as it was heroic. Joan of Arc was 
born of obscure parents, in an obscure village on the 
borders of Lorraine, and was bred in a school of 
simplicity. She possesed beauty, united with an 
amiable temper and generous sympathies. In her 
religious faith she was sincere, even angelic. Her 
love of country was ardent and irrepressible. Find- 
ing her countrymen distracted by a bitter partisan 
feeling, she identified herself with the patriots, and 
desired to secure the coronation of Prince Charles, as 
the only means, in her belief, of restoring the auth- 
ority of the legitimate government. The reigning 
king had become hopelessly demented, and anarchy 
prevailed in almost every part of his dominions. 

The rival houses of Orleans and Burgundy were 
contending for the supremacy, and had entered upon 
a career of murder and massacre, instead of adopting 
a regular system of warfare. Both parties invoked 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 6/ 

the aid of the English, and an army was accord- 
ingly sent from England ; but instead of relieving 
either of the contending parties, their interference 
only imposed still weightier calamities on the country. 
At this crisis a prophecy became current among the 
people, that a virgin would appear and rid France - 
of her enemies. This prophecy reached the ear of 
Joan of Arc, and inspired her with the belief that 
she was the chosen one of Heaven to accomplish the 
work. 

In confirmation of this belief, she heard mysteri- 
ous voices which came to her in her dreams, and 
which she regarded as divine communications, direct- 
ing her to enter upon her great mission. On confer- 
ring with her parents in relation to the matter, they 
advised her to abandon her mad scheme, and desired 
her to marry and remain with them in her native vil- 
lage ; but she declined, insisting that the current pre- 
diction — ''France shall be saved by a virgin" — allu- 
ded to her. The English army had already besieged 
Orleans, and all hope of saving the city seemed lost. 
Her friends, regarding her as endowed with super- 
natural powers, provided her with a war-horse and a 
military costume, and sent her with an escort to the 
court of Prince Charles, whom she had never seen, 
but whose cause she had espoused. 



1 68 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

He received her with distrust, though he desired 
her proffered assistance. In order to avoid being 
charged with having faith in sorcery, he handed her 
over to a commission of ecclesiastics, to ascertain 
whether she was inspired of Heaven, or instigated 
by an evil spirit. Among other tests, the ecclesias- 
tics desired her to perform miracles. She replied, 
"Bring me to Orleans and you shall witness a mira- 
cle; the siege shall be raised, and Prince Charles 
shall be crowned king at Rheims." They approved 
her project, and she received the rank of a military 
commander. 

She then demanded a mysterious sword which she 
averred had been concealed by a hero of the olden 
time within the walls of an ancient church. On 
search being made, the sword was found and de- 
livered to her. In a short time, with this mysterious 
sword in hand, she appeared at the head of an en- 
thusiastic army, within sight of the besieged city of 
Orleans. The English army was astonished at the 
novel apparation. She advanced, and demanded a 
surrender of the city, but was indignantly refused; 
yet the citizens of Orleans were elate with joy at 
the prospect of relief Joan boldly assaulted the out- 
posts, and carried them. The besieged citizens, who 
had escaped outside the walls, now rallied under her 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 69 

banner, and swelled the ranks of her army. Fort 
after fort was captured. The English fought with 
desperation. Joan, cheering on her brave forces, 
and calling on them to follow, seized a scaling-ladder, 
and ascended the enemy's breastworks, when she 
was pierced with an arrow in the shoulder, and fell 
into the fosse. Her undaunted followers rescued 
her ; when she, seeing her banner in danger, though 
faint and bleeding, rushed forward, seized and bore it 
off in triumph. The English army, amazed at this, 
and believing her more than human, became panic- 
stricken, and retreated in confusion. In their flight 
they lost their commander and many of their bravest 
men. Thus, in one week after her arrival at Orleans, 
she compelled the English to abandon the siege. In 
truth, she had performed a miracle, as her country- 
men believed, and as she had promised the ecclesias- 
tics she would do. For this brilliant achievement 
she acquired the title, ''Maid of Orleans." 

In addition to this, she subsequently fought sev- 
eral severe battles with the English and defeated 
them. Even the sight of her approaching banner 
often terrified the enemy into a surrender. In less 
than three months from the commencement of her 
career, she saw Prince Charles crowned king at 
Rheims. In gratitude for her preeminent and timely 



I/O SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

services in his cause, Charles issued his royal edict 
ennobling her and her family. Not long after this, 
the opposing faction of King Charles captured the 
Maid of Orleans, as she was now called, and impris- 
oned her in a strong fortress. She attempted to 
escape by leaping the walls, but was secured and 
transferred to the custody of the English. The Uni- 
versity of Paris, at the instance of dominant ecclesi- 
astics, demanded her trial on the charge of sorcery 
and the assumption of divine powers. The judges, 
intolerant as the priests, condemned her to be burnt 
at the stake. Her friends were overawed and failed 
to interfere in her behalf The only condition in her 
sentence was recantation and the acknowledment of 
the supremacy of the Church. In view of so terrific 
a death, she recanted ; but hearing the mysterious 
voices of her former dreams upbraid her, she re- 
asserted her faith in her divine mission ; was again 
seized at the instance of the priesthood, and the 
cruel sentence of death at the stake carried into ex- 
ecution. 

Never did a sadder fate overtake an Innocent, pat- 
riotic and noble-hearted woman. Her only crime 
was her love for her country, and her contempt for 
ecclesiastical assumption. Her purity of life was 
never questioned. It was said of her that she never 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I7I 

allowed a profane word to be uttered in her presence. 
Her religion was a religion of the heart, too exalted 
for the times in which she lived. So sincere was 
the belief of the populace in her sanctity, that many 
persons made pilgrimages from every part of the 
empire to touch her garments ; believing that, if they 
could be allowed the privilege, they would be espec- 
ially blessed, both in this life and in the life to come. 
There was no woman of the sixteenth century, 
perhaps, who was more conspicuous or more talented 
than Elizabeth, queen of England. Highly educated 
in the ancient and modern languages, as well as in phil- 
osophy, she embraced at an early age the Protestant 
faith, and in consequence of the religious jealousies 
of the times, encountered great opposition in her 
advent to the throne ; and, while yet in her girlhood, 
suffered a long imprisonment in the tower by order 
of her sister Mary, who was at that time the reigning 
queen. But events which transpired in 1558 resulted 
in the elevation of Elizabeth to the throne, at the age 
of twenty-five. So fearful were the Catholics of her 
influence in matters of faith that they sent to her a 
distinguished ecclesiastic, who demanded from her 
a declaration of her religious creed. To this intru- 
sive demand she, being an adept at rhyming, replied 
impromptu — 



172 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

' Christ was the word that spake it ; 
He took the bread and brake it ; 
And what that word did make it, 
That I beheve, and take it. " 

So frank and faultless was this avowal that it con- 
founded the artful priest, who, feeling rebuked, went 
away as wise as he came, if not a little wiser. 

In her personal appearance Elizabeth was stately 
and majestic, but by no means remarkable for her 
beauty, or amiableness of temper. Her good judg- 
ment and discrimination enabled her to call to her 
aid wise men for ministers and counsellors. She pat- 
ronized talent and intellect. It was during her reign 
that Spencer, Skakespeare, Raleigh, Bacon, and other 
eminent characters, flourished, giving to her times and 
to literature the distinction of the " Elizabethan age. " 
The leading events of her reign amply attest her 
capacity to grapple with emergencies in sustaining 
her prerogatives and in maintaining the defiant attitude 
of England. She loved money as well as power, 
and, though penurious, wielded her power with decis- 
ion; crushed domestic rebellion at a blow; removed 
her fears of Mary, queen of Scots, by consigning her 
to the block ; defied the power of Spain, and, with 
the timely assistance of a providential whirlwind, 
sank the Spanish armada in the depths of the sea. 

Though unattractive, her charms induced sundry 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1^3 

propositions of marriage, particularly from the king 
of Sweden, from the king of Spain, and from a young 
prince of France, twenty-five years younger than her- 
self For this young prince, it is said, she entertained 
a sincere attachment, and went so far as to place 
publicly on his finger a costly ring as a pledge of 
their union ; but being taken soon afterwards by some 
strange whimsicality, dismissed him, and thus gave 
him leisure to reflect on the vanity of human aspira- 
tions. Yet, like most artful women, she delighted in 
flirtations, and always retained in her retinue a few 
special favorities, among whom were the Earls of 
Leicester and of Essex. On these men she bestowed 
official positions of high rank, and evidently desired 
to make great men of them ; but Leicester proved to 
be deficient in brains, and Essex turned traitor, and 
was finally executed. 

When advised to marry by her counsellors, she 
replied that she could not indulge such a thought for 
a moment, for she had resolved that the inscription 
on her tombstone should be: 

" Here lies a queen who lived and died a virgin.' 

In her seventieth year she died of grief, it is said, for 
having signed the death-warrant of Essex, for whom 
she entertained a sincere yet ''untold love." 

The events of her reign wrought great changes in 



1/4 SKETCHES OF V/ESTERN LIFE. 

the destinies ot nations. By her firm adherence to 
the Protestant faith, she contributed much towards 
enlarging and strengthening the foundations of civil 
and rehgious hberty. She succeeded by her wisdom 
and diplomacy in circumventing the subtle machina- 
tions of rival powers. In few words, it may be said 
of her, that she was a noble specimen of manly 
womanhood. 

Catharine I., empress of Russia, was born of ob- 
scure parents, near the close of the seventeenth cen- 
tury. In girlhood she was known by the name of 
Martha, until she embraced the Greek religion, when 
her name was changed to Catharine. Her father 
died when she was but three years old, and left her 
to the care of an invahd mother in reduced circum- 
stances. When old enough to be useful, Catharine 
devoted her services to the care and support of her 
mother, and, in attaining to womanhood, grew to be 
exceedingly beautiful. Her mother had instructed 
her in the rudiments of a common education, which 
she afterwards perfected under the tuition of a neigh- 
boring clergyman. Among other accomplishments, 
Catharine acquired a knowledge of music and danc- 
ing, and soon became as attractive for her elegance 
of manners as she was celebrated for her beauty. 

In 1 701 she married a Swedish dragoon, and im- 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I75 

mediately accompanied him to the military post 
assigned him in the war which had just broken out 
between Sweden and Russia. In a battle which soon 
followed, she was taken prisoner by the Russians. 
Her personal charms soon attracted the attention of 
Peter the Great. What became of her husband is 
not known, but may be imagined. At any rate, the 
emperor succeeded in winning her affections, acknowl- 
edged her as his wife, and placed the imperial dia- 
dem on her head and the sceptre in her hand. She 
soon proved herself to be a woman of wonderful 
tact, shrewdness and judgment, and obtained an 
unbounded influence over her husband. In fact, her 
advice controlled his action ; and in following it, he 
acquired the enviable and lasting title of ''Peter the 
Great." Like her, thousands of women have made 
their husbands great men, and often out of very in- 
different materials. 

After Peter's death, Catharine was proclaimed em- 
press and autocrat of all the Russias. Her reign, 
though short, was brilliant. Her frailties, if she had 
any, were few, and ought to be attributed to the 
character of her favorities rather than to herself 
She died at the early age of forty-two, after a brief 
xeign of a little less than two years as sole empress. 
Her native endowments constituted her brightest 



176 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

jewels — modesty, simplicity and beauty. It was 
these angelic gifts which elevated her from the ob- 
scurity of rural life to the throne of a great empire. 

Here let us turn from the Old World to the New, 
and look into the parlor, instead of the palace, for 
specimens of true womanhood. It is in the private 
walks of life, in the domestic and social circles, that 
we must look if we would contemplate the character 
of woman in its purest and proudest development. 
It is in her daily exhibition of heart, soul, sympathy, 
generosity and devotion, that woman attains to per- 
fection and crowns herself with a diadem. Every- 
where in this great republic are thousands of women 
whose excellence of character challenges our admir- 
ation. Among those who have passed into the bet- 
ter life, and whose names are recorded on the tablet 
of every American heart, is Martha Washington. 

In her character we have the character of an ac- 
complished American lady. Few, if any, have ever 
excelled her. When the war of the Revolution 
commenced, she accompanied her husband, who had 
just been appointed commander-in-chief of the Amer- 
ican armies, to the military lines about Boston, and 
witnessed the siege and evacuation of that city. She 
was ever the guardian spirit of the general, and 
aided him materially in his military career by her 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 77 

wise counsels and timely attentions. While he rea- 
soned logically and deliberately, she came to logical 
conclusions instantly, without seeming to reason, a 
faculty of logic which characterizes almost every 
woman. 

In her figure, Martha was slight ; in her manners, 
easy and graceful ; in her temper, mild, yet cheerful; 
in her conversation, calm, yet fascinating; in her 
looks, beautiful, especially in her youthful days. So 
universally admired and respected was she, that 
everybody spoke of her as "Lady Washington." 

She did the honors of the presidential mansion 
with polished ease, dignity and grace. Her connu- 
bial life with Washington was not less exemplary 
than it was happy. His regard for her was as pro- 
found as her devotion to him was sincere. So solic- 
itous was she for preserving his good name and 
fame, that, immediately after his death, she destroyed 
all the domestic letters which he had addressed to 
her, for fear they might, some day, be published, 
and be found to contain some word or expression of 
a political nature which might be construed to his 
prejudice. 

Faithful as a wife, as a friend, and as a Christian, 
she proved herself a model woman. She survived 
her husband but two years, and died at the age of 



1/8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

seventy. In life she occupied a position which 
queens might envy; and in death, bequeathed a 
memory which will be cherished in a nation's heart, 
when the proud monuments of kings and queens 
have crumbled into dust and been forgotten. 

If it could be done without making invidious dis- 
tinctions, It would be no less delightful than instruc- 
tive to refer specifically to the names and deeds of 
many other American women who have graced the 
age in which they lived, and added lustre to . the 
annals of our republic. But we must content our- 
selves by alluding to them in general terms ; and, In 
doing this, we must admit the fact, that the noble 
deeds and exalted virtues of woman occupy a much 
less space in the world's history than they ought. 

It Is sufficiently evident to everybody that women, 
in all the relations of life, exhibit a keener apprecia- 
tion of right and wrong than men. Hence they 
are usually the first to approve what is right, and the 
last to concur In what is wrong. It was this devotion 
to principle which induced American women In the 
days of the Revolution to submit to the severest 
trials and deprivations, while they encouraged their 
sons, husbands and brothers to go forth to the bat- 
tle-field In defence of their country. In proof of 
their patriotism, these noble women, with their own 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 79 

hands and with cheerful hearts, spun, wove, knit, 
and baked for the brave and suffering soldiers, and 
even made an offering of their jewels on the altar of 
liberty ; and rather than see the enemy enriched by 
traffic and unjust revenues, complacently approved 
the policy which cast rich cargoes of their favorite 
beverage into the depths of the sea. 

It was the same spirit, the same patriotism, which 
inspired the women of our own times, on a still 
broader scale, in the late struggle of the North to 
crush the rebeUion of the South, and sustain in all its 
purity, its honor and its glory, the dear old flag of 
the Union. This great work has been done manfully 
and nobly, and at immense sacrifices of treasure and 
of blood; but it could not have been done without 
the aid and encouragement of woman. It was 
woman who held the key and unlocked the hearts of 
twenty millions of people, and induced them, by her 
pleading appeals, to pour out their noble charities, 
as from floodgates, to supply the urgent needs of 
the largest and bravest army the world ever beheld. 
It was woman, whose delicate hand nursed the sick, 
the wounded, and the dying soldier, and whose 
sympathies and prayers soothed and cheered his 
departing spirit. 

In the sanitary commission, in the Christian com- 



I So SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

mission, woman was the master-spirit, the angel of 
mercy, the music of whose hovering wings animated 
the weary march of our gallant volunteers, and in- 
spired their souls with invincible courage. It is 
woman who weaves the only wreath of honor which 
a true-hearted hero desires to wear on his brow, and 
the only one worthy of his highest aspirations. It is 
an indisputable fact that the power, the patriotism, 
and the influence of woman, constitute the great 
moral elements of our republic, and of our civil and 
religious institutions. 

It is the educated and accomplished women of 
our country who have refined the men, as well as the 
youth of the land, and given tone to public sentiment. 
It is this class of women who have purified our liter- 
ature, and moulded it to harmonize with the pure 
principles of a Christian philosophy. In the fine arts, 
and even in the abstruse sciences, women have ex- 
celled as well as men. In the catalogue of distin- 
guished authors there are to be found, both in this 
country and in Europe, nearly as many women as 
men. From the facts which we have already ad- 
duced, it is evident enough that woman, in the exer- 
cise of intellectual, if not political power, is fully the 
equal of man, while in tact and shrewdness she is 
generally his superior. According to the old, but 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. l8l 

truthful saying, it is impossible for a man to outwit a 
shrewd woman ; and instead of asking what can a 
woman do, we should ask, what is there a woman 
cannot do? 

Whenever women are left to take care of them- 
selves in the world, as thousands are, they should 
not only have the right, but it is their duty, to en- 
gage in any of the industrial pursuits for which they 
are fitted. The principal difference between man 
and woman is physical strength ; and, for this reason, 
the lighter employments should be assigned to 
women. In whatever employment men are out of 
place, women should take their place ; especially in 
retailing fancy goods, in book-keeping, in telegraph- 
ing, in type-setting, in school-teaching, and in many 
other like employments ; nor need they be excluded 
from the learned professions. In fact, we already 
have lady clergymen and lady physicians ; and some 
think the character of the bar would be much ele- 
vated by the admission of lady lawyers. We can- 
not doubt that they would excel in prosecuting suits 
commenced by ''attachment," but in other cases 
their success is not assured, if we may judge from 
the following incident : A lady lawyer of presidential 
aspirations, in conducting a suit before Judge Carter iU 
the district court at Washington, was opposed by an 



1 82 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

eminent lawyer of the other sex, who raised a vexed 
legal question which had not been ** dreamed of in 
the philosophy " of the lady lav/yer, and which so 
endangered her side of the case and perplexed her 
that, in the midst of her embarrassment, she ap- 
pealed to the judge for advice as to the course she 
had better pursue. The judge, who hesitates some- 
what in his utterances, replied : * * I think you had 
bet-bet-better employ a lawyer." 

If women choose to compete with men in any of 
the learned professions, or in any other pursuit, and 
are fitted to achieve success, there is nothing in the 
way to prevent them ; yet it does not follow that 
they can take the places of men in every thing, 
especially in those employments which require mas- 
cuHne strength and great physical endurance. Nor 
does it follow that women who pay taxes should 
therefore have the right of suffrage. The fact that 
they hold property does not change their status, nor 
does it confer political rights. 

The right of suffrage is a political right and not a 
natural right. The exercise of this political right 
carries with it the law-making power, the duty of 
protecting persons and property, and consequently 
of maintaining and defending the government. They 
who make the government are therefore bound to 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 83 

defend it. Nature never Intended that women should 
become soldiers, and face the cannon's mouth In the 
battlefield ; nor did she give them strength to con- 
struct railroads, tunnel mountains, build war-ships, 
or man them. Yet women, prompted by affection 
or romantic sentiment, have been known to become 
soldiers In disguise, and perhaps have fought bravely 
in the battle-field; but this, of itself, proves nothing; 
it is merely an exception to a general rule, or. In 
other words, an eccentricity of character. In all 
ages of the world, as we have shown, the mere force 
of circumstances has occasionally unsphered woman, 
and placed her in unnatural situations. In which she 
has sometimes achieved a brilliant success — on the 
throne and off the throne, in peace and in war, in 
political life and in social life. Yet In stepping out 
of her sphere, whatever may be her success, every 
true woman feels that she **o'ersteps the modesty of 
nature." 

When woman glides into her natural position — 
that of a wife — It is then only that she occupies her 
appropriate sphere, and exhibits in its most attract- 
ive form the loveliness of her character. Marriage 
is an institution as essential to the stability and 
harmony of the social system as gravity is to the 
order and preservation of the planetary system. In 



Io4 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

the domestic circle the devoted wife becomes the 
centre of attraction, the ''angel of the household." 
Her world is her home ; her altar, the hearthstone. 
In her daily ministrations, she makes herself angelic 
by making home a heaven, and every one happy 
who may come within the '' charmed circle " of her 
kind cares and generous sympathies. In fact, there 
is no place like home, ''sweet home," when on its 
sacred altar burns the blended incense of harmonious 
souls — 

" Two souls with but a single thought, 
Two hearts that beat as one." 

It is certain that man and woman were never 
created to live independent of each other. They are 
but counterparts, and therefore incomplete until 
united in wedlock. Hence they who prefer single 
blessedness are justly chargeable with the "sin of 
omission," if not the "unpardonable sin." It Is 
difficult to estimate the fearful responsibilities of 
those fossilized bachelors who persist in sewing on 
their own buttons and in mending their own stock- 
ings. Yet these selfish gentlemen frankly admit 
that there may have been such a thing as ' ' true 
love " in the olden times, but now, they say, the idea 
has become obsolete ; and if a bachelor were to ask 
a young lady to share his lot, she would immediately 
want to know how large the 'Mot " is, and what is its 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 85 

value. In further justification they quote Socrates, 
who being asked whether it were better for a man to 
marry or Hve single, replied, " Let him do either and 
he will repent it." But this is not argument, nor is 
it always true, even in a sordid marriage, as appears 
in the following instance. Not long since, in New 
York, a bachelor of twenty-two married a rich 
maiden of fifty-five, who died within a month after 
the nuptials, and left him a half million of dollars. 
He says he has never " repented " the marriage. 

The age in which we live is one of experiment and 
of novel theories, both in religion and in politics. In 
modern spiritualism we have entranced women, who 
give us reports from the dead. In modern crusades 
we have devout women, who visit tippling-houses 
and convert them into sanctuaries of prayer. In 
politics we have mismated and unmated women, who 
hold conventions, clamor for the ballot, and advocate 
the doctrine of ''natural selection." 

It is true that every marriageable woman has a 
natural right to select, if not elect, a husband; and 
this she may and ought to do, not by ballot but by 
the influence of her charms and her virtues. If all 
marriageable men and women were but crystallized 
into happy families, earth would soon become a par- 
adise. Yet, if this were done, we doubt not there 



1 86 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

would still remain some "strong-minded" women, 
who would get up a convention to reform paradise. 
The truth is, the women will do pretty much as they 
please, and the best way is to let them. 

Yet all must admit that a woman of refinement is 
not only a ruling spirit, but "a power behind the 
throne greater than the power on the throne." Her 
rights are, therefore, within her own grasp. Among 
these she has the right, and to her belongs the re- 
sponsible duty, of educating her children in first prin- 
ciples, and in those sanctified lessons which have 
been revealed to man from heaven. It is the mother's 
precepts which constitute the permanent foundation 
of the child's future character. Hence no woman is 
really competent to discharge the responsible duties 
of a mother as she ought, unless she has first been 
properly educated. There can be no object more 
deserving of commiseration, perhaps, than a mother 
who is surrounded by a family of young children, 
and yet is so ignorant as to be unable to instruct 
them in the rudiments of a common school educa- 
tion and in the fundamental principles of a Christian 
life. The character of every child, It may be assumed, 
is essentially formed at seven years of age. The 
mother of Washington knew this, and felt it, and, 
in the education of her son, taught him at an early 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 87 

age the leading truths of Christianity. She took the 
Bible for her guide, and taught him to take the 
Bible for his guide. His subsequent career proves 
that he adhered to the instructions of his mother. 
When he came to pay her a visit, at the close of the 
war, after an absence of seven long years, she 
received him, with the overflowing heart of a mother, 
as her dutiful son, and thought of him only as a 
dutiful son, never uttering a word in reference to 
the honors he had won as a military chieftain. 

Soon after this. Gen. Lafayette, wishing to make 
the acquaintance of the mother of Washington 
before returning to France, called at her residence 
in Virginia, and introduced himself He found her 
at work in the garden, clad in a homespun dress, 
and her gray head covered with a plain straw hat. 
She saluted him kindly, and calmly remarked, " Ah, 
Marquis, you see an old woman ; but come, I can 
make you welcome in my poor dwelling without the 
parade of changing my dress." In the course of 
conversation Lafayette complimented her as the 
mother of a son who had achieved the independence 
of his country, and acquired lasting honors for him- 
self The old lady, without the least manifestation 
of gratified pride, simply responded, "I am not sur- 
prised at what George has done, for he was always a 



1 88 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

very good boy." What a noble response, in its 
moral grandeur, was this ? Certain it is that such a 
mother was worthy of such a son. A monument, 
plain, yet expressive in its design, has been erected 
at Fredericksburg to her memory. It bears this 
simple, yet sublime inscription: — 

Mary, the Mother of Washington. " 

The extent of woman's moral power can only be 
limited by the extent of her capacities. In every 
circle, whether domestic, social or political, the 
accomplished woman is a central power — ivipei'ium 
hi impcrio ; and, though she may not directly exer- 
cise the right of suffrage, yet her influence and her 
counsels, even an expression of her wish, enable her 
to control the political as well as the social destinies 
of men and of nations. It is in this way that she 
may ''have her way." It was the accomplished wife 
of Mr. Monroe who made him President of the 
United States. She was the first to propose his 
name as a candidate. Her influence with members 
of congress induced them to concur in advocating 
his election. He was elected. His administration, 
as we all know, was distinguished as "the era of 
good feeling." 

The prevalent idea that women need less education 
than men is a gross error, worthy of heathendom 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 89 

perhaps, but entirely unworthy of Christendom. 
Let women be as generally and as liberally educated 
as men, and, my word for it, the question of 
women's rights would soon settle itself. The right of 
women to be thus educated cannot be doubted, 
because it is a divine right, and because God has 
made woman the maternal teacher of mankind, and 
the chief cornerstone of the social fabric. Yet she 
should be educated with reference to her proper 
sphere as woman — a sphere which is higher than that 
of man in the economy of Nature. Her capacities 
for industrial pursuits, such as are consistent with 
her physical abilities, should be developed so that 
she may be qualified to provide for herself, and to 
sustain herself in life's battle, if need be, without 
the aid of a ''companion in arms." 

Nevertheless, marriage is one of heaven's irrevoc- 
able laws. It is, in fact, the great law of all animal 
life, and even of plant life. Nowhere in nature is 
there a single instance in which this law is not obeyed, 
in due time, except in the case of mankind. Why 
is this ? It certainly would not be so if it were not 
for some grand defect in our social system — some 
false notions acquired by education, which are pecu- 
liar to our civilization, and which induce apostasy to 
truth and natural justice. Man was created to be the 



190 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

protector of woman, and woman to be the helpmeet 
of man. Each, therefore, has an appropriate sphere ; 
and the obHgations of each are mutual, growing out 
of their mutual interest and dependence. The sphere 
of the one is just as important as the sphere of the 
other. Neither can live, nor ought to live, without 
the aid, the love, and the sympathy of the other. 
Whether so disposed or not, neither can commit an 
infraction of the other's rights, without violating a 
law of Nature. 

Whatever may be the evils of our present social 
or political system, it is evident that the right of 
suffrage, if extended to woman, could not afford a 
remedy ; but, on the contrary, would tend to weaken, 
rather than strengthen, mutual interests, by creating 
unwomanly aspirations and domestic dissensions, 
thus sundering the ties of love and affection which 
naturally exist between the sexes. In a word, it 
would be opening Pandora's box, and letting escape 
the imps of social and political discord, and finally re- 
sult in universal misrule. If not In positive anarchy. 

Modesty and delicacy are the crowning characteris- 
tics of a true woman. She naturally shrinks from 
the storms of political strife. Give her the right of 
suffrage — a boon no sensible woman desires — place 
her in office, In the halls of legislation. In the presi- 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. I9T 

dentlal chair, enrobe her with the judicial ermine, 
or make her the executive officer of a criminal tri- 
bunal — and how could she assume the tender rela- 
tions of a mother, and at the same time officiate in 
either of these high places of public trust, in which 
the sternest and most inflexible duties are often re- 
quired to be performed ? 

It is not possible, however, that the erratic comets, 
whose trailing light occasionally flashes athwart our 
political sky, will ever acquire sufficient momentum to 
jostle the " fixed stars " out of place, because there is a 
fixed law of Nature which preserves them in place. 
There is also a law of Nature which makes man not 
only the protector, but the worshiper of woman — 
a worship which is as instinctively paid as recipro- 
cated, and which is by no means inconsistent with the 
worship of God, but, in truth, is a part of it. It is 
this kind of worship, this natural and holy impulse of 
the heart, which constitutes the basis of man's rights, 
and of woman's rights, and should harmonize all their 
relations in life. 

We see the instinctive exhibition of man's reverence 
for women almost every day of our lives, and often 
in a way that proves how ridiculous are modern 
theories in regard to woman's rights, when brought 
to the test in practical life. Not long since in one of 



192 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

our cities where a woman's- rights convention was in 
session, a strong-minded female delegate entered a 
street railway car, when an old gentleman arose to 
give her his seat ; but, at that moment, suspecting 
her to be a delegate, asked, " Be you one of these 
women's righters ?" — "I am." — "You believe a 
woman should have all the rights of a man ?" — " Yes 
I do." — "Then stand up and enjoy them like a man." 
And stand up she did — the old gentleman coolly 
resuming his seat, to the great amusement of the 
other passengers. 

Whatever may be the pretensions of agitators, it is 
certain that no woman of refined culture, or of 
proper self-respect, will attempt to step outside of 
her appropriate sphere. This she cannot do if she 
would, without doing violence to the sensibilities of 
her nature. When true to herself, woman, like the 
lily of the valley, prefers the valley, where she can 
display her native loveliness in comparative retirement, 
secure from the inclemencies of a frowning sky ; while 
man, born with a more rugged nature, prefers, like 
the sturdy oak, to climb the hills and the mountains, 
where he delights to breast the assaults of storm and 
tempest, and to fling the shadow of his stately form 
over the valley, as if to protect the ethereal beauty 
of the lily from the too ardent gaze of the sun. And, 



WOMAN AND HER SPHERE. 1 93 

though a solitary flower may sometimes be seen 
climbing the mountain height, it is only the modest 
lily of the valley, the true woman, whose cheering 
smile man aspires to share, and whose virtue and 
purity call into exercise his noblest and holiest sym- 
pathies. 



Land of Flowers. 



LAND OF FLOWERS. 

Among the eminent Europeans who attempted to 
explore the southwestern region of the American 
continent was Ponce de Leon. He expected to find 
somewhere within its mystic domain the traditional 
fountain whose waters, as it was said, possessed 
the magical power of restoring old age to per- 
petual youth. It was the result of this attempt that 
foreshadowed the birth of a civilization that now 
gives character to western life. 

Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spaniard, born in the 
year 1460. He descended from an ancient family of 
renown. His parents, though reduced to compara- 
tive poverty, possessed a proud spirit which he 
inherited. In early life he served as page to the king. 
His education was derived principally from his 
surroundings. As he advanced in age he became 
ambitious, and indulged in aspirations as visionary 
as they were extravagant. When he had reached 
the age of manhood, he engaged in the wars against 



198 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

the Moors of Granada, and distinguished himself as 
a valiant cavalier. In 1493 he accompanied Colum- 
bus in his second voyage to Hispaniola and was 
placed in command of its eastern province. In this 
position he soon acquired an overgrown fortune and 
organized a formidable military force with a view to 
protect and aggrandize himself in the exercise of 
absolute power. Feeling assured of his ability to 
extend his authority he sailed for Porto Rico, and 
after a lingering contest conquered the island and 
assumed its government. He ruled its inhabitants 
with a severity that soon became intolerable, and 
they appealed to the authorities of Spain for relief. 
The appeal, through the influence of the Columbus 
family, resulted in obtaining the removal of Ponce 
de Leon from office. This was a shadow thrown 
upon his pathway which, though it had a chilling 
effect, did not discourage him. It simply aroused a 
spirit of indignation within his breast that was 
coupled with a firm resolve to achieve still higher 
and worthier aims. 

Though crippled with the infirmities of age, he did 
not for that reason become inactive. He readily 
accepted as true the ancient tradition then prevalent 
among the Indians, that there existed in the isles of 
the sea north of Porto Rico a miraculous fountain 



LAND OF FLOWERS. 1 99 

whose waters had the magic power of restoring old 
age to the vigor of youth. This change in his physi- 
cal condition was what he most desired. Hence he 
at once determined, if it were possible, to discover 
this mystic fountain and to avail himself of its 
regenerating influence, and at the same time acquire 
by conquest or otherwise the imperial government 
of these fairy isles, which, as * it was said, were 
begemmed with hills of gold, flowery vales, luscious 
fruits, and pleasant groves that were ever cheered by 
the song of beautiful birds and the smiling presence 
of still more beautiful women. 

Infatuated by this ideal of a restoration to youth 
and the acquisition of an earthly paradise, he ex- 
pended his entire fortune in procuring the prompt 
outfit of an expedition to explore a realm so delightful. 
The expedition consisted of three ships furnished 
with liberal supplies, and also with an efficient mili- 
tary force. He took command of the expedition 
and sailed from Porto Rico in March, 1512, and soon 
reached the Behamas, a group of islands at the north, 
which at that time had not been explored. Here he 
cruised about among the islands for a month or more, 
prosecuting his inquiries as to the locality of the 
traditional fountain and enjoying the luxuries of life 
in a summer cHme. 



200 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

The natives received Ponce de Leon and his subor- 
dinates with reverential awe and with great kindness, 
and though they had never seen the fountain, they all 
entertained a vague belief that it existed and could 
be found far away in a western land that was fringed 
with the twilight of the setting sun. Though the 
explorer had made a fruitless search among the 
Behamas, he accepted this vague belief of the island- 
ers and directed his course westward, and after many 
days of sluggish sail on a slumbering sea, discovered 
land on Easter Sunday — a land crowned with a rich 
foliage and carpeted with a profusion of flowers. It 
was for this reason that he called it "Florida," or 
the land of flowers. He disembarked at a point a 
Httle north of St. Augustine, and took possession of 
the territory in the name of Spain. He penetrated 
the interior to some extent in search of the mystic 
fountain, drank of the waters of every spring and 
streamlet he could find, and bathed in them, but 
failed to rejuvenate himself as he had expected. He 
instituted inquiries among the natives, but none of 
them could give him any definite information in 
regard to the hidden fountain. They, in fact, regarded 
him and his followers as intruders, and though he 
attempted to conciliate them, they assumed a menac- 
ing attitude which resulted in frequent conflicts. 



LAND OF FLOWERS. 201 

He coasted in a southerly direction, doubled Cape 
Florida, and discovered the Tortugas. He left one 
of his faithful adherents at the cape to retain posses- 
sion of Florida, and to continue the search for the 
fountain, while he, still suffering from increasing 
infirmities, returned to Porto Rico to report his 
discoveries. In achieving these brilliant results he 
not only acquired an enviable renown, but secured 
for Spain an enlarged empire, a jewel that enriched 
her crown and inflated her pride. Ponce de Leon, 
though depressed in spirits, assumed an air of cheer- 
fulness, and described in glowing language his won- 
derful discoveries to the King of Spain, who was so 
highly pleased with this new acquisition of empire 
that he acknowledged the eminent service of the 
explorer by appointing him, without solicitation, to the 
supreme governorship of the flowery land which he 
had discovered, on the condition that he would 
colonize it at his own expense. Though still a suf- 
ferer from the infirmities of age, as well as reduced 
in his financial resources, he gratefully accepted the 
honor of the appointment, and after the lapse of 
several years succeeded in so far replenishing his 
coffers and in gathering colonists as to be able to 
enter upon this new adventure with flattering pros- 
pects. 



202 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

In 1 521 Ponce de Leon, clad in the robes of magis- 
terial authority, and commanding two ships laden 
with colonists and the requisite supplies, sailed for 
that paradise in the far west which he had discovered, 
and to which he had given the name of '' Florida." 
The voyage was soon accomplished. The colonists 
hailed the beautiful land as they came in sight of it, 
with exclamations of wonder and delight. They be- 
came impatient to disembark and take possession of 
a realm so beautiful and so inviting. They effected 
a partial landing, and began to select desirable locali- 
ties for permanent homes. The Indians soon dis- 
covered the object of the intruders, and rallied with 
a bloodthirsty resolution to exterminate them. A 
fearful battle ensued, in which a large number of 
both natives and colonists were killed. Ponce de 
Leon received a fatal wound from a poisoned arrow. 
Wounded in pride as well as in body, he was now driven 
with the remnant of colonists back to his ships. He 
lost not only many of the colonists, but most of their 
supplies. He returned with the fraction that survived 
to Cuba, where, amid sympathizing friends, he soon 
died of his wound. 

Though naturally vain. Ponce de Leon possessed 
many admirable traits of character. He loved adven- 
ture for the sake of adventure. His aspirations were 



LAND OF FLOWERS. 203 

as lofty as they were characteristic. He" sought 
wealth and power as the chief instrumentality of 
securing self-aggrandizement. When the infirmities 
of age overtook him, he became the dupe of a blind 
faith in the rejuvenating fountain which he sought, 
but could not find. He was a generous cavalier, who 
scattered a fortune and reaped a prolific series of mis- 
fortunes. He made for himself, however, a proud 
and lasting record. He was the first man who re- 
ceived the appointment of territorial governor within 
the present limits of the United States. This was in 
itself an enviable honor. He enriched the world by 
his achievements, and was one of the few who were 
born to command. He loved nature, and it was he 
who discovered her favorite Land of Flowers — an 
achievement whose sequence embraced within its 
grasp the problem of human rights — a problem which 
has been solved by the birth of the Great Republic. 
And yet, though his destiny was a noble one, he led 
a life unsatisfactory to himself, and at his death left 
to his heirs but little else than his name and fame. 



Career of De Soto. 



CAREER OF DE SOTO. 

Hernando De Soto was born in Spain in the year 
1490. He inherited a chivalric spirit and received a 
superior literary and scientific education. He ex- 
celled when young not only in his studies, but in 
athletic exercises. He exhibited traits of character 
that secured him the patronage of Pedrasias Davila, 
a distinguished citizen of Spain, who had accepted 
the governorship of the Isthmus of Darien. In 15 19 
DeSoto accompanied his patron to Darien. Here 
he soon discovered that the citizens of the isthmus 
regarded the government of Davila as tyrannical and 
oppressive. This induced DeSoto to espouse the 
popular cause and take open action against the ad- 
ministration. In consequence of this action, De Soto 
incurred the displeasure of his patron and was dis- 
charged from his service. 

De Soto was ambitious and desired to accomplish 

some grand achievement on his own account. He 

undertook, in 1528, to explore the extensive territories 

207 



208 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE.' 

of Guatemala and Yucatan with the expectation of 
finding a water channel, that could be navigated, con- 
necting the Atlantic with the Pacific ocean ; but in 
this he was destined to disappointment. In 1532 he 
joined Pizarro in his expedition for the conquest of 
Peru, and distinguished himself in many a conflict as 
a brave commander. He possessed a spirit as hu- 
mane as it was heroic, and manifested it by exerting 
his utmost influence with Pizarro to spare the life of 
the unhappy monarch Atahualpa, who had been 
promised his freedom on the surrender of his vast ac- 
cumulation of gold. DeSoto, though more merciful, 
was not less avaricious than Pizarro. They shared 
the gold between them in such a way as to provoke 
an outspoken dissatisfaction among the subordinate 
officers and valiant soldiers whom they had led to 
victory. De Soto, fearing an outbreak that might 
deprive him of the liberal share of gold he had re- 
ceived, returned to Spain to enjoy his wealth and the 
honors he had won in Peru as a victorious military 
commander. 

In the meantime, extravagant rumors in regard to 
tlie riches of the new world pervaded Spain. Every- 
body became excited, and the return of De Soto to 
Spain laden with gold increased the intensity of the 
excitement. He became the central figure, not less 



CAREER OF DE SOTO. 20g 

of envy than of admiration, and was received, where- 
ever he went, with demonstrations of popular favor. 
In fact he was deemed the most fortunate man in 
Spain. He paid his addresses to the daughter of the 
nobleman Davila, his early patron, and married her. 
And, though he had incurred the displeasure of her 
father by criticisms on his administration of the gov- 
ernment in Darien, yet this happy alliance with his 
daughter allayed at once all former animosities. The 
King of Spain was among the first to manifest his ad- 
miration of De Soto. He paid him imperial honors 
and expressed a readiness to grant him any request 
he might chose to make. 

De Soto appreciated his opportunities, and being 
possessed of immense wealth, resolved to accomplish 
some grand achievement that would eclipse the name 
and fame of Pizarro and Cortes. He shared the cur- 
rent belief that there existed somewhere in the north- 
ern region of the new world, still undiscovered, as 
many rich cities, palaces, and treasuries overflowing 
w^ith gold, as had been found in the broad domain of 
the southern region. Influenced by this belief, he 
solicited the king to grant him permission to con- 
quer and colonize Florida at his own cost. The king 
not only gave him the permission desired, but author- 
ized him to exercise absolute jurisdiction over the 



2IO SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

land of flowers. In addition to this, he appointed 
him governor of Cuba. No sooner was the contem- 
plated expedition for the conquest of Florida announ- 
ced, than hundreds of wealthy and aspiring adventu- 
rers applied to De Soto for permission to join him in 
the expedition. Among the adventurers were in- 
cluded a few women, and also a few priests and me- 
chanics. The fleet consisted of nine ships, freighted 
with seven hundred armed men, three hundred horses, 
a large herd of swine, and a dozen or more blood- 
hounds. Nearly a year was occupied in equipping 
the expedition with the requisite outfit, apart of which 
was furnished in Cuba, whence the fleet sailed with 
all the "pomp and circumstance of war," May i8, 
1539, and reached Tampa bay, on the westerly coast 
of Florida, on the thirtieth of the same month. Here 
he landed his troops and marched into the interior. 
The first human being he met, was a Spainard who 
had been, eleven years previous to this time, captured 
by the Indians in a warfare with Narvaez, whose ex- 
pedition to Florida and the region northwest of it 
proved a sad failure. 

The name of the captured Spainard was Juan Ortiz 
When taken prisoner by the Indians, he was con- 
demned to suffer death at the stake. Fagots were 
prepared, and the firebrand applied, when the sympa- 



CAREER OF DE SOTO. 211 

thetic daughter of the chief, appealed to her father to 
spare the victim's life, urging that it would be an 
honor to her father and to the tribe to hold the cap- 
tive in their service as a white slave. This suggestion 
pleased the stern old chief, who promptly ordered 
the victim's release. There might have been another 
and a tenderer motive that induced the maiden to 
make this appeal. 

De Soto was not less surprised than fortunate in 
meeting one of his own countrymen in the wilds of 
Florida at so unexpected a moment, who from his 
long captivity had become familiar with the Indian 
language, and was therefore able to give him much 
valuable informiation. Ortiz, however, had no 
knowledge of a definite character, relative to the 
existence of rich cities, or mines of gold, in the wilds 
of Florida, nor had he received any information of 
that kind from the natives. This did not discourag-e 
De Soto. He resolved to penetrate the wilderness, 
believing that he would, at no very great distance, 
reach a region of rich cities and still richer mines of 
gold. He had an insatiable thirst for gold that could 
not be quenched. It was with him a monomania. 
He pursued the phantom, accompanied by his fol- 
lowers, in a northwesterly direction, and fought his 
way as he advanced through the domains of hostile 



212 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

tribes of Indians until his supplies were exhausted 
and his men reduced to extremities. They expressed 
their dissatisfaction and implored him to allow them 
to return to their own country. He refused to listen 
to their complaints and cut off all hopes of a speedy 
return by ordering his ships to leave the coast and 
sail for Cuba. 

He then inspired his followers with new courage 
by assuring them that they should share with him 
liberally the gold which they were certain to find, and 
declared that he would see with his own eyes the rich 
deposits of gold that lay hidden in the wild domain 
of which he was now the imperial governor. Thus 
stimulated they advanced, fighting the Indians on the 
way, and feeding on the maize which they took from 
them. The Indians were disgusted with the greed of 
the intruders, and for the purpose of ridding them- 
selves of them assured them that gold abounded in 
certain remote regions beyond the line of their tribal 
domains. This encouraged De Soto and his men to 
continue their search. They wandered amid suffering, 
sickness, and death, and were frequently attacked by 
the natives, during their first summer in Florida. 
They wintered in the vicinity of Apalachen bay, where 
De Soto communicated with Cuba, ordered a fresh 
supply of provisions, and sent his wife. Dona Isabella, 



CAREER OF DESOTO. 213 

twenty Indian maidens to serve as her slaves, v^ith 
other tokens of regard, indicating the success and 
golden prospects of his enterprise — an impression he 
wished to create. 

In the spring of 1 540 he proceeded northward in 
the direction of a region occupied by still more num- 
erous Indian tribes. He compelled every tribe through 
whose domain he passed to contribute in turn not 
only sufficient maize to furnish his entire force with 
bread, but subjected them to serve as beasts of burden, 
and in order to secure their adherence to his service 
chained them neck to neck, in couples. He also 
appropriated their most comely women. Twelve 
Jesuit priests accompanied him, who performed reli- 
gious services daily, and who were clad in the glittering 
regalia of their order. They professed a love for the 
Indians and a desire to enlighten them in the principles 
of Christianity, but were by no means averse to the 
accumulation of gold and the free enjoyment of the 
luxuries of life. Rumor reported from tribe to tribe 
the advance of De Soto and his men. And though a 
successful resistance was hopeless, the Indians often 
attacked the intruders with a bravery that was rarely 
excelled. They were slain by hundreds, and the 
pathway of De Soto was strewn with skeletons. 

He discovered as he advanced that the natives 



214 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

possessed large quantities of beautiful pearls. This 
intensified his desire for wealth — gold and pearls. He 
was now approached by an Indian queen, who took 
from her neck a massive string of beautiful pearls 
and threw it around his neck as a token of her rev- 
erential regard for so distinguished a visitor. She 
also presented him several mantles wrought of beau- 
tiful feathers and with thread, as fine as silk, which 
was manufactured from the bark of a tree. These he 
gracefully accepted and asked where the pearls were 
found. She replied that the graves of their village 
were full of them. He directed his men to open the 
graves. In doing this, they soon gathered three 
hundred and fifty pounds of pearls, a rich harvest for 
the despoilers. But their joy was changed to grief 
when on critical examination they discovered that the 
pearls had been perforated and worn as ornaments, 
and their beauty so marred and discolored by time as 
to render them valueless. Though the queen had 
received De Soto with liberal presents and with pro- 
found respect, he did not hesitate to retain her as a 
captive, and to subject her attendants to his service 
as slaves. The queen, however, managed to elude 
her guards and made her escape, taking with her a 
box of select pearls of great value. She was the 
queen of a powerful tribe of Floridians, who had 



CAREER OF DESOTO. 215 

achieved a good degree of civilization. This was evi- 
dent from the advance they had made in the arts, the 
style of clothing in which they were clad, and the 
structure of their dwellings. The queen's village was 
located in the interior of the flowery land, about two 
days' journey from the Atlantic coast. Her subjects 
cultivated the soil to a considerable extent,and seemed 
disposed to maintain peaceful relations with the 
strangers, until their queen was restrained of her lib- 
erty and placed under guard. This aroused their in- 
dignation, and induced De Soto to take his departure 
from their domains. 

The adventurers, under the guidance of a friendly 
Indian, now pursued their way into the wilds of the 
northwest — the present region of Georgia. They 
noticed that the Indians they met had copper 
hatchets, and that the copper contained grains of 
gold, and, moreover, that the Indians understood the 
art of smelting ores. This indication of gold inspired 
the adventurers with renewed hope. Their Indian 
guide assured them that in the mountains at the north 
they would find rich mines of gold. But they doubted 
his sincerity, as they had so often been misled by the 
natives, who desired to rid themselves of their un- 
scrupulous visitors. The sagacious Indian guide, 
however, was truthful, and doubtless referred to the 



2l6 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

gold mines in the mountains of Georgia or North 
Carolina. Had they followed his direction they 
would have found gold, as in all probability the 
mines had been wrought by the Indians at a previ- 
ous period, perhaps for centuries. Yet they declined 
to proceed. They had become disgusted with the 
barrenness of the wild region in which they were 
wandering. They suffered intensely from sickness 
and destitution, and for this reason changed their di- 
rection to the southwest. The Indian guide also be- 
came disgusted with his slavish duties and affected 
insanity. The priest said ''a gospel over him" and 
he recovered. He was undoubtedly convinced that 
he must recover or be shot. In the course of their 
wanderings in the southwest, they passed through 
the northern parts of Georgia amd Alabama until 
they struck the headwaters of the Alabama river. 
They then followed the river in its southern direction 
towards the sea. In this region they were delighted 
to find an abundance of wild grapes, rich and ripe 
and ready at hand, and also maize in the field, to 
which they did not hesitate to help themselves. It 
was now the golden month of October. They had 
journeyed in the wilderness for many a weary month, 
and suffered grievous losses of men and property 



CAREER OF DE SOTO. 21/ 

without realizing their expectations or achieving any 
desirable results. 

Still De Soto, though sadly disappointed, did not 
despair of finding gold somewhere in the wilds of the 
west. He knew that he was governor of Florida, 
and believed he was still moving within the limits of 
his own jurisdiction. In his progress towards the 
ocean he now met an Indian who informed him that 
ships had arrived at the seacoast with supplies. This 
information he dared not disclose lest his men should 
revolt, and the news of his failure to find gold reach 
Cuba. In a few days afterward he encountered an 
Indian tribe who had achieved a partial civilization, 
and who resided in a village called Manilla, or 
Mobile, the name that has been applied to the bay 
and city of Mobile. This village was located on the 
river at a point nearly one hundred miles distant from 
the sea. It was built in circular form and surrounded 
by palisades for protection. The cabins were neat and 
comfortable, and constructed with a remarkable de- 
gree of artistic skill. 

De Soto and his followers were weary and worn, 
and desired rest in a comfortable camp. They con- 
cluded to occupy the village for this purpose. De 
Soto, with a few mounted men gaily equipped, en- 
tered the village with a view to inspect its accommo- 



2l8 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

dations and to negotiate with the chief. In passing 
the gate of the inclosure an Indian insulted one of 
the mounted cavahers, who struck him with a cutlass 
and killed him on the spot. This produced a sudden 
outbreak of hostilities. The chief betook himself to 
his citadel. De Soto luckily escaped with his attend- 
ants to the open fields, and then with his entire force 
returned to the village with a determination to cap- 
ture it and occupy it as a camping-ground for the 
coming winter. He and his force were met by a 
hailstorm of arrows. The Indians, finding they could 
not successfully resist the invaders, applied the fire- 
brand to their village and laid it in ashes. The 
Spaniards, though not defeated, were subjected to a 
serious loss. Eighteen of their mounted men with 
twelve horses were killed, and seventy more of the 
Spaniards wounded. The number of Indians who 
were slain in this terrible conflict was twenty-five 
hundred. The victory, though won by De Soto, 
proved a serious disaster. His baggage and supplies 
of food were all lost in the conflagration. Prior to 
this the number of his men had been reduced from 
seven hundred to less than five hundred by severe 
suffering and repeated conflicts with the natives. 
Surrounded as he now was by a scene of desolation, 
and destitute as his troops were of supplies, he be- 



CAREER OF DESOTO. 2ig 

came somewhat disheartened, but did not despair. In- 
stead of pursuing his way to the seacoast, he re- 
versed his direction, and, plundering the natives as 
he went of their maize and other provisions, reached 
the northern part of the present state of Mississippi 
late in the fall of the year 1540, where he encamped 
for the winter at a small village of the Chickasaws, on 
the western bank of the river Yazoo. The Indians 
were compelled to evacuate their village, in which De 
Soto and his troops quartered themselves in a very 
comfortable way. The winter was cold and stormy, 
but an abundance of maize was left standing in the 
open fields by the Indians, which the Spaniards ap- 
propriated without scruple. The Indians who had 
been driven from their village suffered intensely while 
the Spaniards luxuriated on the spoils taken from 
them. 

When the spring came in 1541 De Soto and his 
troops had so far replenished themselves with com- 
fortable fare as to recover their usual spirits and to 
feel encouraged v/ith the prospect of achieving ulti- 
mate success in the discovery of a region not far 
distant that would furnish them inexhaustible treas- 
ures of gold. Inspired by this sordid spirit, De Soto 
now resolved to continue his researches, and with 
this view ordered the chief of the Chickasaws to 



220 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

furnish him two hundred men to carry the baggage 
of his troops. The chief did not relish this propo- 
sition, nor could he forget the injustice which he and 
his tribe had received at the hands of the Spaniards. 
Though bent on revenge, he assumed to comply with 
the order by sending a few of his tribe to the village, 
who were careful to arrive at midnight, and who on 
confronting the sentinels professed friendship and 
were allowed to enter the enclosure where the 
Spaniards were lost in profound slumbers. These 
Indian delegates, acting in concert, at once set fire 
to every wigwam and structure in the encampment. 
The Spaniards awoke, panic-stricken, amid the raging 
conflagration. The entire village with all its appurte- 
nances was soon reduced to a mass of cinders. 
Seven of the Spaniards were burned to death and 
many others disabled. Many of the horses were 
consumed in the flames while the remainder 
stampeded. Nearly every article of clothing belong- 
ing to the Spaniards, together with their supplies 
and equipments, was destroyed, and the entire 
village with its enclosure obliterated. The victory 
of the Indians was complete. Had they followed up 
their advantage they might have exterminated the 
entire Spanish force. 

De Soto and his men, though dismayed, did not 



CAREER OF DESOTO. 221 

succumb. In the course of a week they contrived to 
clothe themselves with garments made of skins and 
blankets woven of ivy. They then repaired their 
military equipments and replenished their lost store 
of provisions by appropriating the remaining corn of 
the Indians. They also regained possession of their 
remaining horses, cattle and swine, and took up their 
line of march in a northwesterly direction, penetrat- 
ing dark forests and dismal marshes, and after seven 
days of perseverance and suffering reached the Indian 
villages in the vicinity of the Mississippi river. Here 
they were kindly received and furnished with Indian 
guides, who conducted them to the river near the 
Chickasaw Bluffs, where De Soto enjoyed the immor- 
tal honor of being the first white man to behold face 
to face the Father of Waters. Here the Spaniards 
remained for a month or more, and engaged in con- 
structing boats of sufficient capacity to cross the river 
or ascend it. This arrival of white men astonished 
the native tribes who resided in the vicinity of the 
Mississippi. They came in great numbers in canoes 
to look at the strangers, and gratify a curiosity that 
seemed as insatiable as it was taciturn. They were 
decorated in their gayest attire, plumes and fantastic 
garments of vivid colors, as if desirous of making 
an impression. Many of them were armed with 



222 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

bows and arrows, as if meditating a hostile attack, 
but the evident superiority of the Spaniards overawed 
them, and they at once assumed a conciliatory attitude, 
and presented their strange visitors with a liberal 
supply of fish and with bread made of wild fruits. 
There were many hundreds of these natives, most of 
whom came down the river from villages located at 
different points along its bluffy banks. When they 
saw the Spaniards launch huge boats and embark 
with all their supplies, including horses, bullocks and 
swine, and cross safely over to the west side of the 
great river, they were astonished, and dispersing 
returned to their villages to report the marvels they 
had witnessed, and to express their fears as to the 
intentions of the white invaders — an unknown race, 
evidently superior to their own, and who, as they 
believed, had descended from the sun. 

De Soto was delighted with his discovery of this 
majestic river, and admired the sentinel forest trees 
that guarded its banks and gracefully flung their 
banners of gray moss to the fluttering breeze. He 
believed he had now reached the direct pathway 
to the long-sought region abounding in gold. In 
his attempt to ascend the western bank of the Mis- 
sissippi with his troops, he encountered extensive 
marshes, dense thickets, and many other embarrass- 



CAREER OF DE SOTO. 223 

ments, but finally reached the high and dry rolling 
prairie lands in the vicinity of New Madrid. About 
the twentieth of June, 1541, he reached the northern- 
most point of his exploration up the Mississippi — a 
point not known, but which is supposed to be but a 
few leagues up the river from New Madrid. At any 
rate, it was a region that supplied an abundance of 
fish, wild game, and wild fruits. 

Here De Soto, with his famished followers, in- 
dulged in feasting for forty days, and then took 
a new direction and penetrated the wilderness 
westward two hundred miles or more, until he 
reached the mountain lands that skirt the White 
river. Here he expected to find gold, but found none. 
He now changed his course and took a southerly 
direction, passed through numerous Indian villages, 
and encamped for the winter near the hot springs on 
the banks of the river Washita, in Arkansas. 

In March, 1542, the explorer still hopeful descended 
the Washita to its union with the Red river, and 
thence down the crimson waters of that river to its 
junction with the Mississippi, where he arrived in May. 
Both he and his troops were sadly demoralized during 
their western wanderings, and had suffered untold 
miseries from hunger and sickness, and from losses 
by Indian attacks and other disasters. Here De 



224 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

Soto encamped in the vicinity of Natchez, among 
Indian tribes whom he plundered and reduced to 
starvation. The condition of both Indians and 
Spaniards became desperate. De Soto now resolved 
to find his way to the sea. He inquired the distance, 
but none of the Indian chiefs could tell him. He 
sent out six horsemen to descend the banks of the 
river and report. They rode eight days through 
swamps and cane-brakes, and had advanced but thirty 
miles when they found it impossible to proceed 
further. They returned and reported that the 
descent to the sea along the banks of the river was 
impossible, the distance unknown, and the region 
uninhabited. This report sadly discouraged De Soto. 
His men and horses were dying around him from 
hunger and disease. The Indians had discovered his 
weakness and manifested a hostile disposition. How 
to extricate himself he did not know. He now 
realized for the first time his inability to help himself 
or to defend himself amid his savage enemies. Still 
he regarded the far west, which he had visited as a 
part of Florida, and himself as its rightful governor. 
He now endeavored, as a last resort, to inspire the 
Indians with the belief that he was a child of the 
sun, and therefore possessed divine power and could 
do whatever he pleased at a word. His object was to 



CAREER OF DESOTO. 22 5 

overawe the Indians and thus induce them to furnish 
him and his men with the necessaries of Hfe. But 
the sagacious chief, of whom tribute was demanded, 
doubted the divinity of De Soto. *'You proclaim," 
said the chief, "that you are a child of the sun ; if so, 
dry up the river and I will believe you." De Soto 
found himself entrapped and declined to perform 
miracles. He at once sank into a gloomy state of 
mind, which was followed by a severe attack of fever. 
Anticipating a fatal result, he summoned his devoted 
followers to his bedside, and, with their consent, 
appointed Louis Moscoso de Alvaralo as his successor 
in command. On the following day, May 21, 1542, 
he died. A priest pronounced his eulogy and over 
his corpse the last requiem was chanted amid tears 
and lamentations. The remains were then secretly 
buried in the gateway of the camp, with a view to 
conceal his death from the Indians. But the suspicious 
appearance of a new-made grave was noticed by them, 
and seeing no more of De Soto they began to think 
he was dead. Fearing the Indians might disinter his 
remains, and thus prove that he was mortal instead 
of immortal, the Spaniards removed his body at mid- 
night and inclosed it in a sack with a heavy addition 
of sand, and sank it in the depths of the great river 
of which he was the first discoverer. The Indians 



226 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

asked — "What has become of our lord, the white 
governor?" The Spaniards repHed that ''he had 
ascended Into the skies for a little while, but would 
soon return." No trace or relic of his remains has 
ever been found. Ihe Great River is his monument 
— a monument that is as enduring as it is impressive 
in its grandeur. 

Louis Moscoso, successor in command, now real- 
ized the forlorn condition of his men and their sur- 
roundings. They were destitute of physical comforts 
and anxious to return to New Spain. They had but 
few horses and swine left. They saw no prospect of 
relief, yet they had too much pride of feeling to return, 
poverty-stricken, to their friends. They had just 
heard from the Indians fresh rumors of gold and rich 
cities still to be found in the far west, and at once re- 
solved to attempt a realization of their golden dreams. 
Misled by Indian guides, they wandered in the wil- 
derness, west, north and south, suffering untold mis- 
eries, and after a zigzag ramble of a hundred and fifty 
leagues or more, returned to the banks of the Missis- 
sippi, where they arrived in winter, disgusted and ex- 
hausted, as well as disappointed, in their renewed at- 
tempt to discover gold. The Indians, hoping to rid 
themselves of the Spainards, had deceived them. 
Though destitute of almost every facility, the Spaniards 



CAREER OF DE SOTO. 22/ 

now contrived to build a sufficient number of boats to 
convey them with their scanty supplies down the 
Mississippi to the sea. They had killed and consumed 
the last of their horses and swine for food. Only three 
hundred and seventy-two persons of their original num- 
ber had survived the perils of their explorations. This 
remnant of the expedition of De Soto embarked on 
their voyage down the Mississippi, July 2, 1543, and 
after seventeen days of exposure and frequent attacks 
from the Indians, reached the Gulf of Mexico in 
safety, and thence coasting along the borders of 
Louisiana and Texas for fifty days, arrived at Panuco 
a Spanish colony, where they were received by sym- 
pathizing friends and supplied with the comforts of 
civilized life. Though reduced to poverty and depen- 
dence on the charity of their friends, they still cher- 
ished with pride the memory of De Soto, the impe- 
rial governor of Cuba and Florida, and lived to enjoy 
for many years the wide notoriety which they had ac- 
quired in the perilous service of their distinguished 
commander. 

Hernando De Soto was a man of destiny. He won 
honor as well as fame In running a career of dis- 
appointed ambition. He possessed a sanguine temper- 
ament, and yielded to the Influences of an insatiate 
love of power, and of gold as the basis of power. This 



228 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

selfish and sordid trait of his character was matured, 
if not engendered, by the impressions he received 
while engaged with Pizarro in the conquest of Peru. 
He desired to outrival Pizarro in the acquisition of 
wealth and fame. He believed in more worlds to 
conquer. He accepted the governorship of Cuba as 
a stepping-stone to the governorship of Florida whose 
extent of territory was at that time unknown. In 
fact, Florida was to him the dreamland of golden 
treasures. His search for gold cost him his life. 
His character was a mosaic of vice and virtue, and 
yet he was a man of broad views and lofty aspirations, 
and as stern in command as he was decisive in action. 
He never dreamed of defeat, but was sadly defeated in 
solving the great problem of his life. 



First Ship on Lake Erie, 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 

There was once a far west, a land of mysteries, but 
the advance of civilization has now obliterated it. 
In the thought of New England, it embraced 
western New York and the Western Reserve. In 
the thought of primitive explorers, it embraced an 
unknown realm whose boundaries were fanciful. 

Of western explorers but few have achieved more 
successful or useful results than La Salle. The sal- 
ient points in his career have enriched the chronicles 
of western adventure, and crowned his memory with 
honor. It was he who built and launched the first 
ship that ever sailed the crystal waters of Lake Erie. 

Robert Cavelier de La Salle was born at Rouen, 

France, in 1643. He was of Norman ancestry and 

received his education in a school of the Roman 

church and became a Jesuit priest. At twenty-three 

he modified his religious faith, withdrew from the 

ranks of the priesthood, and emigrated to Montreal, 

Canada, where his brother resided, who was a priest 

231 



232 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

in the seminary of St. Sulpice. The superior of the 
institution was so favorably impressed with the per- 
sonal appearance, talents and high character of the 
young nobleman that he gave him a tract of eligible 
land with seignioral rights, lying near the rapids of 
the St. Lawrence. La Salle accepted the donation 
with expressions of gratitude, laid out the land in 
town lots, erected buildings, and named the village 
La Chine. He then commenced the study of the 
Lidian language, and in the course of two years was 
able to converse in seven or eight of these strange 
tongues. In this way he prepared himself to enter 
upon the fur-trade with the Indians and to explore 
the far west with a view to extend the commerce and 
enlarge the domain of France. He shared in the 
common belief that there existed somewhere in the 
western wilds a pathway, either by land or water, 
that led to the "South Sea," or to China. Inspired 
with this belief, and with a desire to explore the 
region of the great chain of northern lakes and the 
vast wilderness south of them, and at the same time 
to secure the fur trade with the natives and enlarge 
by new discoveries the domains of New France he 
applied to the governor, Frontenac, for authority to 
extend his explorations, which was cheerfully granted 
with the condition that he should defray the expense. 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 233 

In order to do this, he was compelled to sell his 
seigniory. From imperfect maps and the indefinite 
information he had obtained from the Indians, he 
imagined the lakes at their western termination were 
connected with the Pacific, and that the Ohio river, 
of which he had heard vague rumors, flowed to the 
south and discharged its waters into the Gulf of Cali- 
fornia. He now resolved, with such means as he 
possessed, to commence extensive explorations and 
satisfy himself. 

In July, 1669, he, with four canoes and fourteen 
men, ascended the St. Lawrence, and after a weary 
voyage of thirty days reached Lake Ontario; and, 
coasting along its southern shore at a still more slug- 
gish rate, arrived at its western termination in safety, 
where he met an Indian guide who proposed to con- 
duct him to the Ohio river in six weeks. Though 
La Salle had commenced an exploration up the lakes, 
he now concluded to change his direction and trace 
the course of the Ohio. After experiencing many 
embarrassments, he, with his party, reached the head 
waters of the Allegheny, and thence passed in canoes 
down that stream to the Ohio river, and thence down 
the Ohio as far as the rapids, the present site of 
Louisville. Here he learned from the natives that 
the river ran a long distance and finally lost itself in 



234 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

dismal swamps which were impassable. His canoe- 
men, fearing to proceed, deserted him and left him 
alone and destitute of provisions. This unfortunate 
occurrence induced him to retrace his steps as he 
best could to Canada — a distance of several hundred 
leagues through an untrodden wilderness. While 
returning, the wild game and fish which he caught, 
and the maize which he obtained from the Indians, 
furnished him with a scanty supply of food. He was 
taken sick on the way, but found shelter in the wig- 
wam of a friendly Indian, and finally so far recovered 
as to reach Canada late in the summer of 1670. He 
was much reduced in health and in his financial 
means, but did not despair of success in exploring 
other localities in the mystic wilds of the west. 

La Salle, after making such preparations as he was 
able, embarked, in 1671, at a point in the vicinity of 
La Chine with a few chosen men in canoes for the 
purpose of renewing his attempt to explore the chain 
of northern lakes. The Jesuits had preceded him, 
established missions at eligible points, and, while pro- 
fessing to Christianize the Indians, were engaged in 
manipulating a brisk fur trade with them and in 
filling their coffers with golden profits. This method 
of Christianizing the Indians was rebuked by La Salle, 
and as he proceeded from one lake to another, sharp 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 235 

controversies ensued, which, in several instances, 
eventuated in open hostilities. La Salle was a man 
of nerve, and the Jesuits soon discovered that they 
could neither intimidate him nor defeat him in the 
execution of his projects. He continued friendly 
relations with the Indians as he proceeded, and 
obtained a share of the fur trade. He pursued his 
voyage until he reached the southern extremity of 
Lake Michigan, the present site of Chicago. He 
crossed by land to the Illinois river and descended 
that stream, as some writers assert, to its junction 
with the Mississippi. But this is questionable. He 
devoted several weeks to the fur trade at different 
points along the banks of the Illinois, and then re- 
turning to Montreal reported his discoveries to his 
friend. Governor Frontenac. 

La Salle now engaged for several years in the fur 
trade, with a view to improve his financial condition 
and secure to the commerce of France a monopoly 
of the trade as against other intruding nationalities. 
The scheme he projected was a wise one. It con- 
sisted in establishing forts, or trading posts,^at all de- 
sirable points along the great chain of lakes and navi- 
gable rivers in the west and south as a base of oper- 
ations and defense. The Jesuits united in opposing 
this scheme, alleging it to be a measure in conflct 



236 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

with the true interests of their missions. La Salle, 
however, took decided steps in reference to his scheme, 
with the sanction of Frontenac. He had also expressed 
to Frontenac a desire to explore the Mississippi, but 
needed pecuniary aid to accomplish it. Frontenac 
approved the project and sent La Salle, in 1674, to 
France, commending him and his project to the king, 
Louis XIV. Thus commended, he visited the king, 
who received him with kind consideration. In recog- 
nition of his valuable services, the king bestowed on 
him the governorship of the new fort, Frontenac, in 
Canada, and granted him seignioral rights in an exten- 
sive tract of territory that surrounded it. His wealthy 
relatives at Rouen were proud of him, and gave him 
the ready means of maintaining the fort in accordance 
with the conditions of the royal grant. In the course 
of the next year he returned and took possession of 
his seigniory, improved its defences, and surrounded 
it with a numerous guard of brave Iroquois, on whom 
he could rely for protection. In the meantime the 
Jesuits had aroused a formidable opposition to his 
exercise of power, the effect of which was to divide 
the country into two distinct parties, with La Salle as 
leader of the one, and the Jesuits as leader of the other. 
The controversy involved the interests of both church 
and state. La Salle, with the aid of his faithful band of 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 23/ 

Iroquois, succeeded in controlling the fur trade and in 
circumventing the sordid machinations of the Jesuit 
priesthood to a degree that won respect. 

In 1678 he again visited France and received the 
grant of extended privileges from the king, and also 
obtained increased pecuniary aid from his many lib- 
eral friends and relatives. In the summer of the same 
year he returned to his garrison in Canada, prepared 
to enter upon a grand expedition by way of the lakes 
to the Mississippi. He selected his crew, and, accom- 
panied by Father Hennepin, embarked on Lake On- 
tario, bound on a voyage to the sea. It was late in the 
season. After a struggle of eight days with adverse 
winds, he anchored his ship in the placid waters of 
Toronto bay. Early in December he passed the 
mouth of the Niagara river, and was soon afterward 
shipwrecked in its vicinity. He was fortunate in 
losing but few lives. He saved most of his supplies 
and some parts of the ship. These were carried by 
thirty men up the rugged hillside of the Niagara, and 
then drawn by sledges twelve miles through drifting 
snows in the direction of Lake Erie and deposited at 
the mouth of Cayuga creek. The good Father 
Hennepin carried the sacred altar and his priestly 
robes strapped to his shoulders the entire distance, 
and though a heavy burden, bore it manfully and 



238 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

with Christian resignation. On arrival at the creek, 
Father Hennepin held religious services in which the 
entire party joined in expressions of gratitude to God 
for the preservation of their Hves. 

This disaster, though a serious one, did not dis- 
hearten La Salle. He ordered a patch of land to be 
cleared and directed his carpenters to build a ship. 
The keel was soon laid and the work went bravely on, 
utilizing the remnants of the shipwrecked vessel so 
far as practicable. Two Indian hunters were employed 
to hunt wild game and build cabins for the party. 
An Italian called Tonty was one of La Salle's most 
faithful and useful adherents. He had a large exper- 
ience in western life and was familiar with several 
Indian languages and the peculiarities of Indian char- 
acter. He was also a shrewd tactician. This induced 
La Salle to regard him as a safe adviser and manager 
of affairs when needed. The Indians were numerous 
in the vicinity of Cayuga creek, where La Salle was 
building his ship, and most of them were unfriendly 
to the French, especially the Senecas. It was for- 
tunate, however, that the greater part of them had 
gone to their southern hunting grounds. A few 
lingered about the shipyard and at the creek from day 
to day, apparently with sinister motives, and beheld 
with wonder the ribs of the novel structure. A 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 239 

squaw informed Tonty that the Indians intended to 
burn the huge monster, lest it might do them harm. 
La Salle was at this time absent, and had confided 
the management of affairs to his lieutenant, Tonty, 
who kept watch of the work night and day, as it pro- 
gressed. Father Hennepin attempted to avert the 
threatened calamity by preaching the gospel to the 
natives and performing imposing religious services be- 
fore the altar, which he had borne on his shoulders 
over a rugged pathway in order to save souls. In 
midwinter the provisions became exhausted, when 
the party meditated revolt. Tonty exercised a whole- 
some influence, and with the aid of the two Indian 
hunters soon secured sufflcient food to allay the fear 
of starvation. The carpenters and blacksmiths re- 
newed their efforts to complete the ship. La Salle 
had secured additional materials from the wreck of the 
old ship, which he had sent back by sledge to the creek. 
He now, with two attendants and a dog to drav/ his 
baggage, returned on foot upon the ice of Lake Onta- 
rio to Fort Frontenac, a distance of two hundred miles 
or more, to look after his interests at the fort and pro- 
cure necessary supplies to equip the new ship on the 
stocks. The only food the excursionists took vvith 
them was a small sack of parched corn and a few 
pounds of dried meat. This they exhausted on 



240 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

the way, and after traveling two days without food 
arrived at their point of destination in a pitiable con- 
dition. They received a liberal welcome at the fort 
where they were soon replenished in the *Mnnerman," 
not forgetting the dog. 

La Salle was detained at Fort Frontenac for a much 
longer period than he had expected, in disentangling 
the embarrassments of his personal interests. In the 
meantime Tonty had very nearly completed the ship. 
She was of forty-five tons burden. He launched her 
early in the spring amid shouts and cheers, and the 
firing of cannon, crowned with the blessing of Father 
Hennepin. The entire French party and a few 
friendly Indians were allowed liberal potations of 
brandy, and, while under its influence, repeated their 
vociferations of joy again and again. The wonderful 
ship glided like a duck into the waters of the Niagara, 
safe from the threats of Indian incendiaries. An un- 
couth figure, half eagle and half lion, carved in wood, 
sat on her prow — a griffin — the armorial emblem of 
power adopted at the seigniory of Fort Frontenac. 
There were also five cannon thrusting their black noz- 
zles out from the portholes with a vindictive scowl 
that overawed the courage of her Indian enemies. 
The ship in response to the image that sat on her prow 
was named the Griffin, taken up the river and 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 24 1 

moored at Black Rock, near Buffalo. Here she re- 
ceived her finishing touches and awaited the return of 
La Salle. After an absence of seven months he 
reached the scene of the shipwreck on Lake Ontario, 
accompanied by three friars and a few other persons. 
These friars were of the same faith professed by him- 
self and Father Hennepin, and felt as strong a desire 
to defeat the machinations of the Jesuits and diffuse 
among the Indians a purer gospel. While at the 
scene of the wreck they succeeded in obtaining the 
anchor and some other articles of value, which they 
transferred to Black Rock to be used in completing 
the equipments of the Griffin. La Salle had been so 
harassed by difficulties with his creditors that he did 
not rejoin his party at Black Rock with his new asso- 
ciates until after the first of August, when he was re- 
ceived with cheers followed by a general jollification. 
The Griffin was then towed up the river to a conven- 
ient landing on the bank of Lake Erie, near the site 
now occupied by the city of Buffalo. 

On the seventh of August, 1679, religious services 
were performed on the deck of the Griffin at an early 
hour, followed by the firing of cannon, when the ship, 
in command of La Salle, unfurled her wings to the 
favoring breeze and glided with the grace of a swan 
upon the rippling waves of Lake Erie, '* westward 



242 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

bound. " Hers was the first keel that ever ploughed 
the broad expanse of this inland sea. She had en- 
tered upon a sublime enterprise — an attempt to pen- 
etrate the mysteries of a treacherous fresh water sea 
hitherto untraversed by the shipcraft of^a daring civili- 
zation. The natives along shore beheld the white- 
winged vision with amazement as it moved upon the 
waters like a *' thing of life." It was the aim of La 
Salle to monopolize the fur trade and discover a path- 
way to the Pacific. The Griffin touched at points 
along the southern coast of the lake, with a view to 
purchase furs from the natives, but failed. The 
natives fled into the interior, dismayed at the appa- 
rition. Wild fruits and wild game abounded on shore, 
and furnished the crew of the Griffin with the ''deli- 
cacies of the season." 

On the fourth day of her voyage the Griffin reached 
the strait of Detroit, and thence amid a wild and 
beautiful scenery on either side pursued her way 
through lake St. Clair to lake Huron. Here she 
encountered a violent storm. The crew despaired. 
Father Hennepin knelt and prayed the Holy Virgin, 
with unwonted fervor, to spare their lives. The storm 
straightway subsided. The skies became bright and 
peaceful. Nature smiled. This was regarded by all 
on board, and especially by Father Hennepin and his 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 243 

priestly associates, as an instance in which the efficacy 
of prayer was fully proved. The Griffin sped on her 
way under the influence of a cloudless sky, and in the 
course of a few days arrived in safety at Mackinaw, 
the grand centre of the western fur trade. Her ap- 
proach had been watched with interest. Her cannon 
announced her arrival. The Ottawas were overawed, 
and thought her a messenger sent to them by the 
Great Spirit. The Jesuits had established a mission 
at this point and acquired a dominant influence over 
the Indians. In this way they had monopolized the 
fur trade ; and though they hated La Salle, yet they 
feared him, well knowing that he was sustained in his 
enterprise by Governor Frontenac. They had built a 
block-house for their own accommodation,and a chapel 
adjoining the village of the Ottawas. They received 
their distinguished visitor with respect at the chapel. 
La Salle, clad in the glitter of his official costume, knelt 
reverently before the altar in the midst of a motley 
assemblage whose devotion was greatly exceeded by an 
insatiable curiosity. When La Salle left the chapel 
and while returning to the Griffin, the Ottawas and 
Huronspaid him honors by firing a salute of musketry. 
The Griffin lingered at anchorage in the harbor for 
some days, surrounded by Indian canoes, attracted by 
idle curiosity or other motives. Though the Jesuits 



244 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

had acquired by their teachings the dominant influ- 
ence over the minds of the Indians, they could not 
entirely control the fur trade. La Salle, however, 
was disappointed in his expectations of obtaining furs 
at Mackinaw. He had sent agents some nine months 
prior to his arrival to purchase furs for him, but they 
had squandered the means with which they were 
entrusted and disappeared, with the exception 
of one or two of them, who had proved faithful to his 
interests. He proceeded westward into lake Michi- 
gan and anchored at a small island in the vicinity of 
Green Bay. Here his agents sent to this point had 
accumulated a large stock of furs, which were 
promptly transferred to the Griffin. The ship was 
heavily freighted with a rich cargo. La Salle placed 
her in command of a faithful and skillful subordinate 
with orders to return to Niagara, sell the furs, pay the 
avails to his creditors, and then rejoin the expedition 
on lake Michigan. La Salle was a man of honor, and 
though his creditors had persecuted him, he desired 
to pay the ''utmost farthing" he owed them. 

It was on the eighteenth day of September, 1679, 
when the Griffin fired her parting gun and sailed on 
her return voyage from Green Bay. It was near 
nightfall. There were a few dark clouds, thunder- 
heads, rising above the horizon in the southwest. 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 245 

The weather was sultry. A slight breeze danced 
upon the rippling waves. The Griffin sped on her 
way and disappeared in the darkness of a starless 
night. The gentle breeze soon swelled to a hurricane. 
The scowling thunder-clouds that were seen peering 
above the horizon now grew to gigantic dimensions. 
With tongues of fire they uttered terrific peals that 
appalled the courage of the stoutest hearts. The 
reverberations shook earth and sky. In an instant the 
Griffin was caught up and wrapped in the folds of the 
whirlwind by an invisible spirit — a spirit 

" That gave her to the God of Storms, 
The lightning and the gale !" 

Such was the sad fate of the Griffin, as tradition has 
it. Nothing more was ever heard of her. Not a 
reHc was ever found. Not a soul on board survived 
to tell the mystic tale of her catastrophe. 

Within an hour after the Griffin had sailed from 
Green Bay, La Salle took command of four canoes 
with fourteen men, and proceeded southward. Father 
Hennepin and a carpenter were assigned the smallest 
canoe, which was freighted with mechanics' tools and 
with other luggage, including the sacred altar and 
priestly vestments, so dear to Father Hennepin. The 
storm overtook them at the approach of night, scat- 
tered the little fleet of canoes, and created intense 



246 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

anxiety. Though drenched with rain, they happily 
reached the cove of a neighboring island which shel- 
tered them from the blast of the " pitiless storm. " The 
Pottawatomies of the island received them kindly. 
Here they remained five days, when the storm abated 
and favoring skies re-appeared. Meanwhile La Salle 
and his party had been feasted with an ample supply 
of green corn cut from the cob and mixed with pump- 
kin and fried in bear's grease. 

It was now about the first of October. In proceeding 
on their voyage they continued to encounter storms 
and disasters, and though they landed at points along 
shore, they were at times reduced almost to a hope- 
less state of starvation. They did not reach the south- 
ern borders of Lake Michigan until November Here 
they remained at the mouth of St. Joseph's river for 
nearly a month, awaiting the arrival of Tonty with a 
detail of twenty men. It was expected they would 
bring news from the Griffin. Tonty, though long 
delayed, rejoined the expedition, but brought no 
tidings from the Gnffin. This created gloomy fore- 
bodings in the mind of La Salle as to her fate. Her 
cargo of furs sent to Niagara was valued at ten thou- 
sand crowns. She was expected to make a speedy 
voyage and bring back to Lake Michigan ship-building 
materials and other supplies required by La Salle to 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 24/ 

carry out his project of exploring the great valley of 
the Mississippi. Though hearing nothing from the 
Griffin he resolved to proceed and trust to the prov- 
idence of circumstances. 

Amid the snow and ice of December, 1679, he as- 
cended the St. Joseph, accompanied by thirty-three 
men in canoes, crossed the portage to the Illinois, a 
distance of about five miles, and passed down that river 
in the same direction he had taken on a previous 
trip. After a long and severe struggle with unex- 
pected embarrassments he arrived on New Year's day, 
1680, at an Indian town of some five hundred wig- 
wams, near the present village of Utica. Here the 
party celebrated mass in commemoration of the day. 
In passing down the river the party soon encountered 
another Indian town through which the river flowed. 
The natives received the strangers with evident sus- 
picion. The Jesuits had been among them, and in- 
duced them to regard La Salle as an enemy in dis- 
guise. Attempts had been made to poison him while 
on the way. He still treated the Indians with great 
kindness accompanied with gifts, and in that way se- 
cured friendly relations with them. It was a cold 
winter. The river was sealed up by congelation. La 
Salle could not proceed. Six of his men deserted him. 
He now heard that the Griffin was lost with all on 



248 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

board. All hope of receiving aid from her was now 
abandoned. Though defeat stared him in the face, 
he resolved to conquer success. He erected a fort 
near the town and named it ** Crevecceur," and di- 
rected his men to build a ship with which he intended 
to explore the great valley of the Mississippi. He 
then with but four of his party, an Indian guide and 
a small canoe, retraced his steps to Fort Frontenac. 
There he received information in respect to other in- 
terests, which was as unexpected as it was discourag- 
ing. A ship's cargo consigned to him from France 
had been lost in the St. Lawrence. His creditors be- 
came more importunate than ever. One disaster fol- 
lowed another in quick succession. Nearly all his 
agents at Frontenac, and at forts which he had estab- 
lished in the west, plundered him. Some of them 
conspired to take his life. He became aware of their 
machinations and thefts, and managed to capture 
most of them. He returned with such outfit as he 
could obtain to the valley of the Illinois. He saw as 
he passed down that river nothing but a silent scene 
of death and desolation. The Indian villages had 
been destroyed, and hundreds of the villagers lay dead 
upon the ground, a prey to the wolves, the eagles and 
the bears. He arrived at Fort Crevecceur on the fourth 
of November Here the Indian village had been oblit- 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 249 

erated. The men he had left at the fort had plundered it 
and fled. Nothing remained but the unfinished keel of 
the ship which he had ordered to be built in his ab- 
sence. He had been absent nine months. In his 
absence the Iroquois had invaded the inheritance of 
the Illinois, burned their wigwams and slaughtered 
men, women, and children without stint or mercy. 
Both tribes were numerous, and for some reason nat- 
ural enemies. 

La Salle, with the small party that was now with 
him, descended the river to the Mississippi where he 
set up a landmark upon its bank in commemoration of 
the event, and then returned to the headwaters of the 
Illinois with a view to build another ship, and also to 
conciliate the Indians so as to secure their united 
force in defense of the French forts, and of his own 
interests in the fur trade. He succeeded in doing 
this by his masterly powers of persuasion. He was 
ever a spirit on the wing. He made frequent trips 
back and forth between the south and north during 
his explorations. It was mainly the fur trade and its 
profits that enabled him to sustain himself and party, 
and to procure indispensable supplies. Neither per- 
sonal friends nor the civil authorities contributed as 
much to aid him as he had reason to expect. He was 
compelled to resort to a great variety of expedients. 



250 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

His men often proved faithless, and more or less of 
them deserted him. This compelled him to enlist 
new men in his service from time to time, who con- 
ducted themselves in a similar manner. In this way- 
he struggled for years without achieving satisfactory 
results. 

In September, 1682, he was at Mackinaw. In the 
following November he was building a fort at 
** Starved Rock " on the Illinois river. This was 
a huge mass of elevated rock, peering above the val- 
ley with a frown upon its brow — a natural citadel of 
defense. Here he secured the safety of twenty 
thousand Illinois from the attack of the Iroquois. In 
the course of the next year he explored the valley of 
the Mississippi to the sea. He reported to the king 
of France his success. The jealousies of his enemies 
had prejudiced the king against him, by representing 
his discoveries as of no value. His personal inter- 
view with the king removed all prejudices, and re- 
stored him to favor. The king gave him an outfit of 
four ships, put him in command with directions to 
proceed by sea to the mouth of the Mississippi and 
plant a colony in its valley. 

He sailed from France July 24, 1684. The voyage 
was one of disasters, accompanied with insubordina- 
tion on the part of inferior officers. He finally 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 25 1 

reached the Gulf of Mexico, skirted its shores, and 
passed the mouth of the Mississippi without discov- 
ering it. In his search for it he entered Matagorda 
bay, many leagues west of it. Here he landed with 
a part of the colony. Three of the ships, in com- 
mand of dissatisfied subordinates, returned at once 
to France, leaving La Salle and his adherents to their 
fate. The ship that remained was soon afterward 
wrecked on the coast with a loss of valuable supplies. 
La Salle erected a fort on the bank of the Lavaca, a 
small river that discharges its waters into the Bay of 
Matagorda. Here he located the colonists. They 
erected cabins of a frail and temporary character. 
They could do nothing better for want of materials. 
It was a desolate region with a barren soil. Years 
passed in gloom and anxiety. Though the colonists 
struggled to improve their condition, they still 
remained destitute of the comforts of life. La Salle 
saw the necessity of taking decided steps for their 
relief. He did not like the locality. He made 
repeated explorations, hoping to discover the mouth 
of the Mississippi river, but in vain. He attempted 
to return to Canada through the wilds of a dense forest 
to procure aid, but was taken sick in the swamps of 
Louisiana and compelled to abandon the enterprise 
with the loss of eight men. One year after another 



252 SKETCHES OF WESTERN LIFE. 

passed in gloom and destitution. The brave little 
colony of two hundred was now reduced to forty-five 
souls. 

On the seventh of January, 1687, he took his final 
departure on foot from the fort on the Lavaca, 
accompanied by the remnant of the colonists, with 
the determination to push his way through the 
wilderness to Canada. He and his followers suffered 
untold deprivations as they proceeded. A few of 
them became mutinous, and rejoiced when one of 
their number waylaid and shot La Salle amid the ever- 
glades in the valley of the great river he had 
explored from its principal tributaries to its mouth. 
Thus fell, at the age of forty-four years, one of the 
most heroic and magnanimous explorers that ever 
attempted to penetrate the primeval mysteries of the 
far west. He achieved marvels. Their import could 
not, in his day, be comprehended. It was a day of 
strife and struggle among European monarchs to 
enlarge their empires and fill their coffers with the 
virgin gold of the new world. 

Spain, France and England were the gamesters. 
They moved adroitly upon the chessboard. Each 
claimed vast domains by right of discovery. Their 
claims were as conflicting as they were enormous in 
extent. Disputes arose, followed by hostilities. The 



FIRST SHIP ON LAKE ERIE. 253 

contest was prolonged for centuries. One century 
locked horns with another. The mastery seemed 
dubious. At last the contest became a question of 
popular rights. The star of empire — divine in its 
birth — appeared in the west. The eagle fixed his 
eye upon it and soared skyward in its blaze, flinging 
the shadow of his wings over the land, now a land of 
freedom, a sisterhood of states, free of foreign domin- 
ion, free to act, ever progressive, ever aspiring, ever 
prophetic, never satisfied — a grand republic, whose 
watchword is, '' In God we trust," and whose banner, 
begemmed with the stars of heaven, is ever des- 
tined to float in triumph 

"O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." 



PIONEERS 

OF THE 

WESTERN RESERVE. 



By HAR VE V RICE. 
Price, gi.oo. 

NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

" The name and character of Hon. Harvey Rice are sufficient guarantee 
that anything which comes from his hands is worthy of consideration, and it 
is with this assurance that in this work he has produced something of great 
historical value, as well as of interest in its style and incident, that we com- 
mend the work without hesitation." — Cleveland Leader. 

" The incidents of the book have not only real historic value, but they are 
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and privations to which the early pioneers of Ohio were subjected." — Sunday 
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" Mr. Rice tells the story of the early struggles of the early settlers, their 
haps and mishaps, and gradual development, in a most interesting style." — 
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" It is altogether an instructive and valuable book, and especially interesting 
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ford, Conn. 

" There is much that is fresh and interesting in the narrative, and much that 
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" The reader's interest is sustained by remarkable historic facts, heroic ad- 
ventures and thrilling incidents, which the author has taken pains to collect 
from authoritative sources." — Christian Ititelligencer, New York. 

Sent, postpaid, on receipt of Price. 

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Boston. 1886. 



SELECT POEMS. 

By HARVEY RICE. 
Illustrated Edition Price, $1.00. 



NOTICES OF THE PRESS. 

*• ' Select Poems,' recently published by Lee & Shepard, Boston, 
pp. 174, 12nio, are from the pen of Hon. Harvey Rice of Cleveland, O., 
and author of ' Nature and Culture,' piiblished by the same firm in 
1875, and which contained several essays on those subjects worthy of 
the deepest consideration. 

" In the volume now before us, the same love and admiration of all 
things good, noble, patriotic, and beautiful, are to be observed; and we 
wish that some of our magazine-writers would take pattern by the plain, 
almost severe, Saxon verbiage in which the deepest thought and most 
vivid fancy find expression." — Journal of Commerce, Bostoji. 

"A second edition indicates the public estimate of these piquant, 
graceful, and, in many regards, beautiful creations. We still think that 
' Unwritten Music ' rightfully fills the first place. It is simply ex.- 
q\\\&\ie." — Christian Leader, Boston. 

"Among the best of the long poems are 'The Mystery of Life,* 
•Mount Vernon,' 'Ancestral Portraits,' 'Home of my Youth,' and 
' Freedom.' The short poems are all good, some of them being perfect 
gems." — Eastern Argus, Portland, Me. 

" A collection of original poems, all of which are pleasing in struc- 
ture, pure and elevated in sentiment, vigorous and refined in diction, 
and faultless in numbers. The religion is that of the natural man, the 
morality that of works, the sympathy tender, and the wit general. 
The lovers of good poetry will relish the feast." — Epis. Recorder, Phil. 

" Mr. Rice writes true poetry." — ]^ew - York Methodist. 
sent, postpaid, on receipt of price. 

LEE & SHEPARD, Publishers. 

Boston, Sept. l, 188G. 



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